A NEW York-based Irish gay activist has filed a complaint against Polish president Lech Kaczynski for using images of his wedding day in a speech condemning gay marriage.
Brendan Fay, co-chair of New York's Alternative St Patrick's Day Parade, said he was "insulted" that footage of his marriage to partner Thomas Moulton in Canada in 2003 had been broadcast on Polish television on Monday night.
"My initial reaction was one of surprise and shock," said Mr Fay to The Irish Times. "Then I thought, oh my God, what an insult. Tom and I are just a couple, like any other couple around the world." As footage rolled of the couple exchanging vows, Mr Kaczynski warned that ratifying the Lisbon Treaty would open the door to same-sex marriages in Poland.
"The lack of an exact definition of marriage [in the treaty's Charter of Fundamental Rights] as a union of a man and a woman could challenge the moral order commonly accepted in Poland," said Mr Kaczynski, "and could make our country introduce institutions contrary to the moral convictions of Poles." The Polish government has said this is not the case.
On Tuesday, Mr Fay said in a letter to the Polish consul in New York he was "frustrated that images from such a joyous day are being used to spread intolerance".
"Our images clearly were being used by the president of Poland against lesbian and gay persons," said Mr Fay who has campaigned for the right of gay and lesbian groups to march in the St Patrick's Day parade in Manhattan.
He said yesterday that images had an effect unintended by Mr Kaczynski.
"Getting images of a happy gay couple out there isn't a bad thing," he said. "I've had calls and messages of support from ordinary Poles and Polish emigrants from around the world." Mr Kaczynski's views on homosexuality are familiar to Irish ears. A year ago, he told the National Forum on Europe that if homosexuality were promoted "on a grand scale ... the human race would disappear".
Polish gay rights campaigners have attacked Mr Kacyznski's Monday-night broadcast, watched by eight million people.
"This isn't about gay people or the Lisbon Treaty, it's about the Kaczynski brothers getting votes," said Mr Tomasz Szypua, secretary of the Campaign against Homophobia (KPH). "We cannot understand or accept the president portraying homosexuals as a threat to Polish society."