The minister said that “some Polish people are nervous that Western governments try to import their politics, their ideology to Polish society”.
“We have a specific history, [a] difficult history,” he said. “The Catholic Church played a very important role in our history because it gives our society a power and connected Polish people during the Second World War and during the Russian occupation. So Christian values are very important for Poles.”
In recent years, Poland has come under pressure from the European Union over its stance on LGBT issues.
In July 2021, Brussels launched proceedings against Poland after Polish localities passed symbolic commitments to protect citizens from “LBGT ideology”.
The laws were criticised by campaigners, who claimed that they had created “LGBT free zones” across Poland.
The European Commission said they were “concerned that these declarations may violate EU law regarding non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation”.
Some of the Polish localities withdrew their commitments to the zones following the introduction of the legal action, which was eventually dropped by the commission in January.
‘Same rights as in many other European countries’
However, Mr Mularczyk said that LGBT people “have the same rights as in many other European countries” and claimed attacks on Poland over LGBT rights were for “political reasons” and “because we have [a] conservative government”.
“A lot of Polish people are believers in God, we are Christians,” he said. “So maybe this is the problem for the left and liberals… from Poland and from Europe”.
On Oct 15, the country will vote in a general election, where the main liberal opposition party, Civic Platform, hopes to make gains.
Donald Tusk, the Civic Platform leader and former president of the European Council, has promised to loosen Poland’s strict abortion laws and introduce same sex civil partnerships.
In 2022, Mr Tusk said he was “trying to pursue a march towards modernity and tolerance”.
According to the website Politico, the ruling Law and Justice Party retains an average lead of 8 per cent over Civic Platform in opinion polls.
