When I first arrived in Warsaw I was not sure what to expect. Having recently been in Sao Paulo where the Pride was more than 3 million strong and completely an open celebration to Moscow where the Pride was a covert action of secrecy. So, now we are in Warsaw.
We arrive late Tuesday night and are met by Tomasz Baczkowski, the founder and leader of Fundacja Rownosci, an organization that supports the human rights of the GBLT community here in Warsaw as well as organizing the yearly Pride events for since they started a few years ago. He takes us to the apartments we will be staying in and then we head down town to see the office where all the action happens. When we arrive there a few people busily working and we are politely introduced. Most speak very good English to our relief. We are hungry and tired so Tomasz decides he will take us to a restaurant for some food. The place he takes us to is closed and so he suggests an alternative. Although we have been looking forward to perogies and sausage we end up going to a Chinese restaurant that is run completely by Vietnamese people. So not only is it amusing to be having Chinese food made by Vietnamese people in Poland, but we need Tomasz to help translate the items to us from Polish and then he orders but the waiter’s Polish is not very good either. But ultimately the food is good. We head back to our place and crash for the night.
The next day we wake up. We are staying at Tomasz’ flat and Josh has slept on the fold out couch. When he wakes up his shoulder is very sore, but he thinks it will be okay so we head out. We grab a taxi and head to the office. When we arrive there is a flurry of activity and we try to stay out of everyone’s way and finally decide to go for a walk and see what the city has to offer. We take a short but interesting walk around and take in some of the sights of Warsaw. Josh’s shoulder is getting worse so we decide to find a doctor to send him to and get him some help. He goes off to do that with Bob and Morris and I return to their flat. Eventually, Bob and Josh get back. Josh’s arm is in a sling and he finally has a smile on his face that has not been there the whole day that says the doctor has given him some drugs to take away the pain.
Neither of our flats have a wireless internet connection and it is driving us crazy. The only internet connection we have access to is at the office so we are anxious to get there whenever we can. That night we head for a traditional dinner at a restaurant that has been recommended to us. The place is packed and we get a table and I am in charge of ordering. I order some perogies and some meat trays. The perogies come and they are exactly what we expected, the meat tray comes and it is a round chopping board that is heaped with about 10 pounds of various meats and sausages. And then the smaller tray also comes with more meat and then another with some cheeses and fruit. We do our best but do not even come close to finishing the food. We go back to the office for one last visit and use of the internet. I ask what time we can come in the morning to use the computers and we are told someone would be there at 8am. We think great!
The next morning we arrive at the office at 9am and the door is locked so we ring the bell. Conrad, who is the parade director, shows up at the door half asleep and tells us that everyone is still sleeping and that we should come back later. I ask if I can grab my computer, thinking I can sit on the steps outside and get the signal and he allows me to come into the office. The room is dark and people are sleeping everywhere in the office. On the floor, on the couches, the whole team plus some extra helpers have been there until late in the evening working and have finally crashed. The team is working hard on the two big upcoming events, the Gala Night on Friday and the parade on Saturday. We want to help, but as our Polish is very weak there is not much we can do. However, we find out that one of the award recipients on Friday cannot make the event and we are asked if we can do a short video of the people receiving the award and we are happy to oblige.
Friday night’s Gala is a wonderful affair, lots of people, some who are very famous in Poland as well as great food and wine. We chat to a few people and then go into the theatre where we watch an old silent movie that is played to some live cello music that is absolutely amazing. Some awards are given out and unfortunately all in Polish so we clap when everyone else does and laugh with the crowd as well. There is live music by some well-known Polish musicians and singers and the evening goes very well. But you can see on the faces of the organizers that as much as they are enjoying the night, their thoughts are still on the following day and the challenges still not over come.
We have been told earlier in the week that though the Police are mandated to protect the marchers they are always looking for ways to hinder the parade. Back in 2005 when the parade had been banned, Tomasz led the way and took the Polish government to court and won the right to have the parade. What was most dramatic is that this not only affected their parade but is a ruling that now ensures that any group, even the nationalist and skinhead groups, who want to have a parade are protected to does so and are mandated by the government to have police protection at no cost to the organization. But, as already stated, the police are always looking for ways to make it challenging. This year, they have imposed an old law, dating back from the war times, that state that moving people on flat beds is illegal and therefore the flatbeds (floats) that are going to used in the parade can not move while people are on them. Not much fun. The whole week, the team has been trying to find a way to fix this. Their first thought is that they would have people dance on the trucks, remove them all, and then drive the trucks 100 metres, and then load up the trucks again and stop while everyone has a dance. Yikes! But in the 11th hour, Tomasz does some research on the internet and finds an old court ruling where the law that was being used had been previously, successfully challenged. So, phone calls are made, people are consulted and literally minutes before the parade, Tomasz and associates sit with the city and police and come to a decision, that in fact the floats could have people on the back and dancing to celebrate Pride. Chalk another point up for Tomasz and Fundacja Rownosci!
While all this is going on we are at the office getting ourselves ready. We are going to march in the Warsaw Parade with our Vancouver Pride Society banner and the Canadian Flag! We know that his will be an interesting Parade, as there will be an actual parade, but there will still be a large amount of protestors. When we arrive at City Hall, the starting point, there are already some floats there and lots of people. The one thing we notice is that there is a huge presence of police, some in normal uniform and many in riot gear. We can quickly see that some of the persons gathering are the protestors, nationalists and skinheads gathering directly in front of where we are standing. The feeling of fear is becoming very strong as they seem to quickly grow, then as quickly as they seem to gather, the police start ushering them away to across the street. As they are moving past we see that one of our camera people has joined the group as a covert operator. He gives a very coy wink and moves with the crowd of protestors to the spot where police who had linked arms to create a barrier contained them.
We are wondering the starting area and still see some people who are there to protest. The laws in Poland say that as long as there are not more than 14 people gathered to protest it cannot be deemed illegal. One woman walks through the crowd of parade people holding a sign in front of her face that translate to say “You are the reason there are child molesters” and others are handing out pamphlets about the Christian view on homosexuality in both Polish and English.
Lola and I take one and she tries the candy and quickly spits it out, as it is not very good candy. We read some of the pamphlet and put it away to later peruse. We are approached again by one of the people offering us the pamphlet who seems to speak very good English. I say that we have a pamphlet already and that the candy is horrible and jokingly tell him that if he wants to try and convince me to become straight they should get better candy. Then he goes into the sharing of the “message”. I try to be respectful and finally ask him if he is a true disciple of Jesus. He proudly announces yes. I then ask him if he knows the story of when Jesus stopped the crowd from stoning a woman to death and says “Let he among you who have no sin throw the first stone”. He quickly agrees and says he is not there to throw stones. I then point out the group across the street who were there to figuratively “throw stones” and ask why he is not over there and preaching to them. His only answer is to keep coming back to me, and my “sin”. I agree to listen to him more if he would agree to go over and speak to the other group. I do not need to tell you what he did. I told him that the one thing I did know about Jesus is he is full of love, quick like the few thousand people who had gathered to celebrate Pride, and he did not endure hate, like our friends across the street and asked my new “friend” to really consider what was really the worse sin. Then offered to give him a hug which caused an expression on his face that made me smile and then said good bye, as I gaily walked through the crowd of happy, loving people, proudly waving my Canadian flag.
Finally, the engines start and the floats start moving. There more police around us as well as the police who are holding back the protestors that we are now marching directly pass. They have banners with things written and are shouting slogans, which I do not understand. I can only assume they are the usual derogatory statements that try and always unsuccessfully wager support from the public. We were later told that over the past 4 years, the groups of protestors continues to get smaller and smaller as the Pride marchers continues to grow. It takes me back to the church lady who always walked around the Vancouver Parade site for as many years as people could remember with Christian slogans of antigay nature and was such a regular appearance that people in the parade started to parody her. It has been years since she has been seen. I often wonder is she just became too old to continue, or too discouraged by the lack of change she thought she could affect.
We are marching with a group of people and are constantly bombarded with people who want to get our picture. The VPS banner and the Canadian flag. Some are press and many are just others who are so proud to see support from so far away. I have never been as proud to be a Canadian Gay Man. But we are not the only visitors. Among others who have travelled from Germany, Amsterdam and the Ukraine, to name a few places, we meet a woman who has the most energy I think I have ever seen in one human being. She has come from her home of England via Riga, where she attended their Pride the weekend before and convinced the British embassy to fly the Pride Flag on the weekend of Pride as an action of solidarity with the Pride organizers in Riga. Her mission in Warsaw was to accomplish the same, and as we walked past the British embassy on the Parade route we saw a flurry of excitement occurring, as everyone was delighted to see the Rainbow flag hanging proudly in front of the embassy.
All the while we are travelling down the parade route there are police at every street junction and a constant ring round us to protect us. Their mandate to protect us is so strong that they would not even let Lola go outside of the parade group to get water. We realize that their concern is valid as there are protestors at every turn, being held back by police. We later learn that there had been some incidences of violence and see some protestors actually being arrested and taken away to police vans. But there is nothing that will deter this group to continue dancing, celebrating and marching for what is right.
The whole time I was marching in the parade I could not help but having two constant thoughts. One is that I was participating in a part of history. The same kind of history that was created by the brave people in our own community that marched down the streets of Vancouver some 30 years ago. There was no crowds cheering, but instead throwing things, and each and everyone had to consider that they were putting their personal safety and privacy at risk.
Those who know me would not be surprised to hear that I was teary eyed for most of the march. I kept thinking two thoughts. How blessed am I! Blessed to be able to be here in Warsaw and standing with courageous people who are fighting a fight that had already been fought for me so many years ago. Blessed also that I live in a country, a city and a community that has so many rights and privileges for our community. I am not so naïve to think that there is still not much to be done that I can be a part of, but this experience only makes me more determined to work and stand for the things that I know are right. It is my duty and my privilege to be a part of this change, both at home and around the world. And for this I can truly say I am Living a Blessed Life.
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