Poland's inaugural LGBTQ+ museum has officially opened its doors in Warsaw, marking a pivotal moment for the nation as its political landscape shifts towards the center after a decade of right-wing populist governance. The Queer Museum, located on Marszałkowska Street, was established by the Lambda Warsaw Association, the oldest continuously operating LGBTQ+ organization in Poland. This marks the first museum of its kind in a post-Communist European nation.

"We are on Marszałkowska Street, right in the heart of Warsaw," stated Miłosz Przepiórkowski, the president of Lambda. He emphasized that "this sends a clear message to politicians: 'Look, we are launching the fifth queer museum globally in a country that has the most unfavorable legal environment for queer individuals within the EU.'"

The museum showcases approximately 150 artifacts from Poland's LGBTQ+ history, encompassing letters, photographs, and early activist materials. Some of these items trace back to the 16th century, all sourced from Lambda's extensive archive of LGBTQ+ historical materials. The 100,000-item collection was a significant driving force behind the museum's establishment.

"Lambda Warszawa primarily operates as a support organization, so our activities are not always visible externally, but that is changing today," Przepiórkowski noted during the opening ceremony. As the museum welcomed the public, notable figures from Poland's LGBTQ+ past, such as writers Andrzej Selerowicz and Ryszard Kisiel, were in attendance. Both were subjected to the country's homosexuality profiling in the 1980s.

Among the exhibited items is a 1932 edition of the Journal of Laws, opened to the page where the prosecution of same-sex relationships was abolished. This is displayed alongside activist leaflets and images of clandestine meeting places. "For me, this museum is both small and large simultaneously, as it symbolizes a significant milestone in our community's journey," remarked Krzysztof Kliszczyński, the museum's director.

Although same-sex sexual activity was decriminalized in Poland in 1932, the German occupation from 1939 to 1945 reintroduced laws prohibiting homosexuality. Despite the Communist era's removal of all criminal charges for homosexual activities by 1969, the AIDS crisis in the 1980s led to a culture of surveillance over the gay community. Since then, Poland's conservative culture and the Law and Justice (PiS) party, which governed from 2015 to 2023, have fostered anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination.

With the 2023 change in government, the center-right Civic Platform party, led by Donald Tusk, has signaled a more progressive stance towards LGBTQ+ individuals in Poland. However, while same-sex partnerships are no longer criminalized, they remain unrecognized under Polish law. Although laws prohibit discrimination based on sexual identity, there are no legal protections against hate crimes.

"We can no longer be afraid," Kliszczyński declared at the opening ceremony.

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