WARSAW, Poland (AP) – A Polish court on Tuesday acquitted three activists who were accused of desecrating and offending religious sentiments for producing and distributing images of a revered Roman Catholic icon modified to include the LGBT rainbow.
The posters, which they distributed in the city of Plock in 2019, used rainbows as halos in an image of the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus. Their purpose was to protest against what they considered the hostility of the Polish Catholic Church to LGBT people.
The Plock court saw no evidence of a crime and found that the activists were not motivated by a desire to offend anyone’s religious sentiments, but rather wanted to protect those facing discrimination, according to Polish media.
The Conservative group that brought the case, Life and Family Foundation, said it intended to appeal.
“Defending the honor of the Mother of God is the responsibility of each of us, and the guilt of the accused is indisputable,” the group’s founder, Kaja Godek, said on Facebook. “Courts in the Republic of Poland should protect (Catholics) against violence, including by LGBT activists.”
The case was seen in Poland as a test of freedom of expression in a deeply conservative government that pushed back against secularization and liberal views. Abortion was another turning point in the country after the recent introduction of an almost total ban.
One of the defendants, Elzbieta Podlesna, said at the opening of the trial in January that the 2019 action in Plock was stimulated by an installation at St. Dominic’s Church in the city, which associated LGBT people with crimes and sins.
She and the other two activists – Anna Prus and Joanna Gzyra-Iskandar – face up to two years in prison if found guilty.
An LGBT rights group, Love Does Not Exclude, welcomed the decision as a “discovery.”
“This is a triumph for the LGBT + resistance movement in the most homophobic country in the European Union,” he said.
The image involved a modification of Poland’s most revered icon, the Mother of God in Czestochowa, popularly known as the Black Madonna of Czestochowa. The original has been housed at the Jasna Gora Monastery in Czestochowa – the holiest Catholic site in Poland – since the 14th century.
Podlesna told the news portal Onet that the provision of desecration in the penal code “leaves a door open to use it against people who think a little differently.
“I still wonder how the rainbow – a symbol of diversity and tolerance – offends these feelings. I can’t understand, especially since I’m a believer, “Podlesna told Onet.
Podlesna was arrested in a police raid early in the morning on her apartment in 2019, held for several hours and interrogated on posters. Subsequently, a court ruled that detention was not necessary and ordered damages of approximately $ 2,000.
Thanks to all the attention the modified icon received, it is now a very recognized image in Poland, sometimes seen during street protests.