Members of Poland’s Parliament Staged a Protest With Their Clothes

Image may contain Clothing Apparel Human Person Costume Long Sleeve Sleeve Dress People Footwear and Shoe
Photo Credit: Wojtek Radwanski/Getty Images

This past Thursday, President Andrzej Duda of Poland was sworn in to office for a second term. The opposition party, composed of left-wing parliamentarians, wore dresses, shirts, and pants suits in the colors of the rainbow, along with coordinating masks, to show solidarity with Poland’s LGBTQ+ community. A bird’s-eye photo from above showed the stark contrast during the ceremony: One half of the room was composed of Duda in a black suit and his wife in a white dress, while the opposition mimicked a rainbow. The colorful message was directed at Duda, who is known for his anti-LGBTQ+ policies and has a close allyship with Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice party. In the past, Duda has made remarks that “LGBT are not people; they are an ideology” and noted that this ideology was “even more destructive” than communism. His policies reflect that rhetoric: Duda pledged to ban adoption by same-sex couples and classes on gay rights in state schools. Same-sex marriage is already illegal. But other acts of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community popped up the week leading up to the swearing-in ceremony. Rainbow flags were placed around the city, including on a statue of Jesus Christ that was outfitted with a pink mask displaying the anarcho-LGBTQ+ symbol, while the Mermaid of Warsaw held a rainbow flag.

Photo Credit: Wojtek Radwanski/Getty Images

Using clothing as a form of political protest happens often in the United States, to mixed results. Before President Donald Trump spoke at the 2019 State of the Union, women of the Democratic party, including Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wore suffragette white. This past June, in response to the George Floyd murder, Democratic lawmakers, including Pelosi, knelt and wore Ghanian kente clothes (the gesture was widely panned). Dress has even been used to push a clothing agenda within politics itself: In 2017, female house Democrats wore sleeveless looks on what was deemed “Sleeveless Friday” to promote more modern dress codes in the House. 

Sartorial protest has always been a way to visually show unity, but awareness is only the first step. “The sight of opposition MPs wearing rainbow colors and rainbow masks at the president’s swearing-in was a welcome symbol of solidarity with Poland’s LGBTQ+ community, which was cynically vilified in Duda’s bid for re-election,” wrote Vogue Poland’s editor in chief Filip Niedenthal from Warsaw. “But it will take a lot more than photogenic gestures to ensure us our civil rights, which are currently under sustained attack by the right-wing regime, and public media.” Niedenthal has a point: According to a study by ILGA-Europe, Poland ranks the lowest among E.U. countries for LGBTQ+ rights based on discrimination and the lack of laws in place to protect the community. The display created buzz, and the move put Poland’s very serious issues with LGBTQ+ discrimination on an international stage, as it should.