MEP Francisco Guerreiro urges Polish universities to ensure safety of LGBTI students

Lisbon, 20 March 2020 - MEP Francisco Guerreiro (PAN) signed a letter from the European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBTI Rights calling for safe schooling environments for Polish LGBTI students. The initiative came after alarming declarations passed by local governments in Poland that openly discriminate against this community. 

This request follows a record of over 80 instances of regions, counties or municipalities in Poland either declaring themselves free from so-called ‘LGBT ideology’ or adopting ‘Regional Charters of Family Rights’ since early 2019  These resolutions, by calling for local governments to refrain from taking any action that encourages tolerance towards LGBTI people, endanger the wellbeing and safety of the LGBTI community.

These initiatives affect the lives of Polish students as well as those of the thousands of European students who, thanks to the Erasmus programme and other mobility schemes, live and study in this country. Thus, if a safe environment is not ensured for LGBTI students, then the very goal of the Erasmus program is gone.

“Such a programme was conceived and funded by the EU not only to allow young Europeans to study abroad, but also to instil in them a sense of European identity grounded in openness and acceptance of each other’s diversity. Financing our students to study abroad in an environment in which these very same values are openly denied would defeat the purpose of this programme,” the letter states.

Read the full letter here. 

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