Although homosexuality has been legal in Poland since 1932, the country's LGBTQ rights are among the most restricted in Europe. Homosexuality has been a taboo subject for most of Poland's history; combined with a lack of legal discrimination, this has often led to a lack of historical sources on the subject. Homophobia has been a common public attitude in Poland because of the influence of Catholic Church in Polish public life and widespread social conservatism. Homosexuality in Poland was decriminalized in 1932, but recriminalized by the German authorities following the invasion of Poland in 1939.
Early history Due to a lack of historical sources and censorship by the Catholic Church over the centuries, it is difficult to reconstruct Slavic religions, customs and traditions when it comes to LGBT people.
Many, if not all, Slavic countries that accepted Christianity, adopted a custom of making church-recognized vows between two people of the same sex (normally men) called bratotvorenie/pobratymienie/pobratimstvo—translation of the Greek adelphopoiesis—the "brother making" ceremony. The precise nature of this relationship is still highly controversial; some historians interpret them as essentially a homosexual marriage of men. Such ceremonies can be found in the history of the Catholic Church until the 14th century,Ebner, Adalabert "Die klösterlichen Gebets-Verbrüderungen bis zum Ausgange des karolingischen Zeitalters. Eine kirchengeschichtliche Studie" (1890). and in the Eastern Orthodox Church until the early 20th century.Christopher Isherwood, Christopher and His Kind 1929-1939 (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976), 137.Tih R Georgevitch., "Serbian Habits and Customs," Folklore 28:1 (1917) 47 Indeed, in Polish sources the vows for bratotvorenije appear in Orthodox prayer books as late as the 18th century in the Chełm and Przemyśl regions.
Bolesław V the Chaste never consummated his marriage, which some historians see as a sign of his homosexuality.
Throughout history, homosexuality, be it true or alleged, was often weaponised for use by individuals against their ideological or political enemies, and to defame dead historical figures. Bolesław the Bold was accused of "sodomy" by the medieval historian Jan Długosz. He also attributed the defeat and death of Władysław III, the only crusader king not canonized at the Varna, to the king laying with a man before this decisive battle.
Magdeburg Law, under which many towns were built, punished breaking the 6th Commandment ("Thou shalt not commit adultery") by death; however, the actual punishments for adultery given out by the judges in recorded cases included prison, financial fines or being pilloried.Kracik J., Rożek M., Hultaje, złoczyńcy, wszetecznice w dawnym Krakowie : o marginesie społecznym XVI-XVIII w., Kraków 1986, s. 53 Soon the general public's opinion of extramarital sex became more lenient.Tazbir J., Staropolskie dewiacje obyczajowe, s.9 The only known death sentence carried out for "sins against nature" was the case of Wojciech Skwarski from Poznań in 1561. Wojciech was considered male, until doubts in his youth arose and his gender was inspected by officials and mayor of Poznań. They decided Wojciech was female and should be dressed as a woman and known as such by the local community from now on. After running away from Poznań, Wojciech travelled around the country and married, as a woman, three men—Sebastian Słodownik from Poznań, Wawrzyniec Włoszek from Kraków and Jan the blacksmith (married during Wojciech's marriage with Wawrzyniec). The sentence (burning at the stake) took into account Wojciech's other misdeeds such as frequent thefts, hitting (and probably killing) their first husband with a brick during an argument, sleeping with many women (including married women) and having a public house in Poznań.Oczko P., Nastulczyk T., Homoseksualność staropolska: przyczynek do badań, Kraków 2012, s. 280 The case of Wojciech and their ambiguous sex and gender was described (with case file from 1561 republished) by physician Leon Wachholz in his work on "history of hermaphroditism", which suggest they might have been intersex.Leon Wachholz, Obojnak przed sądem w Kazimierzu R. P. 1561. Przyczynek do dziejów obojnactwa, „Przegląd Lekarski”, L, 1911, nr 10. The only other sentence for the act of sodomy (public beating and exile) was the case of Agnieszka Kuśnierczanka, in 1642, who dressed as a man and committed "imaginary male courtship".Oczko P., Nastulczyk T., Homoseksualność staropolska: przyczynek do badań, Kraków 2012, s. 277 Other judicial documents mention same-sex relationships without using derogatory terminology. They are mentioned in a neutral manner as facts in cases of unrelated crimes, showing that same-sex relationships were silently tolerated and not actively prosecuted.Wiślicz T., Z zagadnień obyczajowości seksualnej chłopów ..., s. 57-58
During the Baroque period the general public ignored homosexuality. It was considered it an exception that came from the "degenerate" West and happened among the nobility who had contacts there and the mentally ill.Kuchowicz Z., Człowiek polskiego baroku, Łódź 1992, s. 319 Turkey was considered one of the places where lesbian relationships originated.Kuchowicz Z., Człowiek polskiego baroku, Łódź 1992, s. 321 18th century travelers shared those beliefs and praised Poland, contrasting it with its neighbours.Tazbir J., Staropolskie dewiacje obyczajowe [w:] "Przegląd historyczny" nr 7/8 1985, s. 13 Accusations of sodomy were still used as a method to diminish political opponents, as was the case of Władysław IV, Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki and Jakub Sobieski.
According to the chronicler Marcin Matuszewicz, Prince Janusz Aleksander Sanguszko of Dubno, "kept men for amorous purposes". (His wife, Konstancja Denhoff, returned to her parents "without receiving any marital proof from her husband except for one good morning at dawn and one good night in the evening"). He donated the town of Koźmin and seventeen villages to his lover, Karol Szydłowski. Sanguszko had a string of openly endorsed (and financed by him) favourites until Kazimierz Chyliński, whose father who wanted him to return to his wife, was arrested in Gdańsk and jailed for 12 years.. J. Kitowicz Pamiętniki czyli Historia Polska, oprac. i wstęp P. Matuszewska, kom. Z. Lewinówna, PIW, Warszawa 2005, s. 63-64. After this incident Sanguszko kept only secret lovers until his father's death, but then returned to past practices. It is worth noting that Sanguszko was unafraid of publicly keeping male lovers while maintaining the public position of a Lithuanian Miecznik (sword-bearer). Similarly, Jerzy Marcin Lubomirski had a young Cossack boy favourite, whom he made rich and noble (buying the status from Poniatowski). The prince, who had four short marriages and numerous female and male lovers, was the subject of a newspaper-reported scandal, when he appeared in women's clothing at a Warsaw masked ball in 1782.
During the Enlightenment period, despite the fascination with antiquity and the intellectual liberalisation, homophobic beliefs did not completely disappear: the medical profession considered "sexual deviations" (homosexuality, incest, zoophilia, etc.) a sign of "mental degeneration".Tazbir J., Staropolskie dewiacje obyczajowe [w:] "Przegląd historyczny" nr 7/8 1985, s. 11
Partitions The Napoleonic Code, introduced in the Duchy of Warsaw in 1808, was silent on homosexuality. After 1815, all three countries that partitioned Poland explicitly declared homosexual acts illegal. In Congress Poland homosexuality was criminalised in 1818, in Prussia in 1871 and in Austria in 1852. Russia's new code of law in 1845 penalized homosexuality with forced resettlement to Siberia.Prawa mniejszości seksualnych – prawami człowieka, "Biblioteczka Pełnomocnika Rządu ds. Równego Statusu Kobiet i Mężczyzn", zeszyt 5, Warszawa, 2003, s. 59
In 19th century, due to men being often absent (insurrections, exiles to Siberia etc.), Polish women would often take on traditionally masculine tasks, such as household management. The social norms were more lax on the countryside, allowing women there to have more liberties than in the cities or in Western Europe. There are known examples of women living together with their long-time female partners, such as the writer Maria Konopnicka and painter Maria Dulębianka, Maria Rodziewiczówna and Helena Weychert or Paulina Kuczalska-Reinschmit and Józefa Bojanowska. Women's rights activist Romana Pachucka (1886–1964) would later mention in her diaries those pairs, noticing that in every couple one of the women would present herself more masculine, and the other more feminine. It is known that Narcyza Żmichowska had an affair with a daughter of a rich magnate, which later inspired her to write a novel titled Poganka ("Pagan Woman"). In 1907, another writer, previously known as Maria Komornicka, burned female dresses, announced his new, male name—Piotr Odmieniec Włast— and continued to dress like a man and write under that name.
Second Polish Republic The magazine Wiadomości Literackie ("Literature News") which published many writers of the period, frequently covered issues that broke Polish sexual and moral taboos, such as contraception, menstruation or homosexuality. The most well known advocates of such topics were Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński and Irena Krzywicka.Tuszyńska A., Krzywicka. Długie życie gorszycielki, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Warszawa, 2009, s. 18. They were considered propagators of "moral reform (IE deform)" by Czesław Lechicki and others. In 1935 Boy-Żeleński, Wincenty Rzymowski and Krzywicka, among others, established the Liga Reformy Obyczajów (League of Reform of (Moral) Customs).
The taboo-breaking discussions were limited only to literary circles and were ignited by women's emancipation movements, while mainstream (Catholic) society was still prejudiced and viewed homosexuality as a sin. The writers were eager to include gay subplots in their works and to analyze the psyche of homosexual and bisexual characters. Many cultural figures were also out as gay or bisexual in their communities including Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz and Maria Dąbrowska. Examples of gay subplots include the writings of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Zofia Nałkowska (Romans Teresy Hennert), Jan Parandowski (Król Życia, Adam Grywałd) and the opera King Roger by gay composer Karol Szymanowski which stirred up a controversy at its premiere.Kydryński L., Opera na cały rok. Kalendarium, tom 1, Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, 1989 The only draft of his gay novel Ephebos was burned in the apartment of the novel's keeper, Iwaszkiewicz, in September 1939. Lesbian writings also existed, with 1933 seeing publications of three novels with openly lesbian themes: Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness with a preface by Irena Krzywicka, Maria Modrakowska’s Anetka, and Aniela Gruszecka's Przygoda w nieznanym kraju [An Adventure in an Unknown Country]. A testimony of an anonymous Polish-Jewish woman, imprisoned in concentration camp at age 12, who survived because she "wanted to live long enough to kiss a woman" having had read The Well of Loneliness implies that those texts reached and affected the lesbian population.
In late 1920s Warsaw "pederasty" (pederastja) was tracked by 6th Sanitary-Moral Brigade of the city's police, who organized a hunt on local cruising spots in 1927. In 1925 female 1st Brigade joined the task, and was responsible for arresting the cruisers in 1927. A lot of the arrested were working class males who identified as "ciota" (aunty), wearing makeup and using female nicknames and grammar forms.