We don’t just follow stories, we follow up. In October 2019 Coda Story reported on how Poland’s conservative media fired up anti-LGBTQ propaganda to galvanize voters ahead of parliamentary elections. Now Poland is preparing for another key election, this time for president. Here’s how anti-LGBTQ narratives are again being weaponized as voters prepare to head to the polls.

With Poland facing recession and a fresh spike in Covid-19 cases, President Andrzej Duda has embraced a hard-line, anti-LGBTQ agenda in his campaign for re-election on June 28. The president signed a “family charter” on June 10, pledging to protect and defend the “traditional family” from “LGBT ideology.” Duda published the series of pledges and included a promise to prohibit the spread of “LGBT ideology” in schools.

Last fall, conservative media outlets with direct connections to Duda’s Law and Justice political party ran a full-fledged disinformation campaign against the country’s LGBTQ community. But Duda has previously kept his anti-LGBTQ rhetoric more toned down. Recent poll numbers show the incumbent president may need an extra edge to push ahead.

“He’s nervous, his people are nervous. His campaign has slowed down,” said Hubert Sobecki, the co-president of the LGBTQ rights organization, Love Does Not Exclude. “It’s easy and it’s effective to show an internal threat.”