Justyna Szpanowska was cycling through Warsaw in mid-August, when she heard what, at first, sounded like a coronavirus public safety announcement. As she got closer to its source, she realized it was nothing of the sort. Following the sound, she came across a truck slowly making its way down a busy road in the city center. Its back was lined with speakers playing a prerecorded message, warning passersby that gay couples commit pedophilia against babies. 

In the passenger seat was a blogger with the ultra-conservative LGBT hate group “Fundacja Pro — Prawo do Życia” (Pro Right to Life Foundation), holding a camera. 

Szpanowska, an activist with the left-wing Razem (Left Together) party, explained that around 100 people had gathered near the vehicle to express their outrage at its message. “I’m sure he was trying to provoke a reaction from the crowd for infotainment,” she said. 

Since its 2015 election victory, Poland’s right-wing Law and Justice party has leveraged prejudice against the LGBTQ community for political gain. In 2019’s parliamentary elections, the party's leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski claimed his victory would prevent “homosexual marriages.” And, ahead of last month’s presidential polls, President Andrzej Dudza described so-called LGBTQ ideology as “a kind of neo-Bolshevism.”