Olly Alexander Makes Strong Statement By Wearing Rainbow On Polish TV

Gay Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander performed on 'The Voice Of Poland' yesterday, sporting an outfit made entirely out of rainbows!

Entertainment . Written by Brian Dillon.

Olly Alexander singing on The Voice Of Poland dressed in rainbows

A week after Polish president Andrzej Duda said that he would consider supporting a ban on so-called ‘homosexual propaganda’, Years & Years star and queer icon Olly Alexander took to Polish TV to make his stance on LGBT+ rights known.

Last week, Duda said, “I think that this kind of propaganda should not take place in schools, it has to be calmly and consistently opposed. If such a law was created and would be well written, I do not exclude that I would approach it seriously.”

Polish LGBT+ publication Queer.pl then asked Olly to wear a rainbow-themed outfit to show support for the Polish LGBT+ community.

Alex Brzana and Magda Dropek, employees of the publication, told BuzzFeed News, “Considering Olly’s engagement in LGBTQ issues we knew he’d be down to do it.

“Especially that the director of Polish national television Jacek Kurski once said that same-sex couples can’t be shown in dating shows (Poland’s version of First Dates), because Polish Constitution and Polish law say that family is a union between a man and a woman.”

Olly answered, and wore an entirely rainbow-coloured outfit for the performance.

Fans on Twitter were quick to show their appreciation for the singer’s show of support, with one fan writing, “thank you for wearing this rainbow outfit! we need it on polish TV.”

https://twitter.com/dominiqs12/status/1063911058958626817

Commenting on the stellar performance, Dropek explained that, “any gesture of solidarity is very important for us” as “the LGBTQ community in Poland doesn’t have equal rights, we don’t have civil partnerships or same-sex marriages, and homophobic and transphobic hate crimes are not barred in our penal code, there’s no anti-discrimination education in schools. We still face many difficulties, especially in our current political situation.”

Responding to the positive comments on Twitter, Olly wrote, “Thanks @queerpl for your support and all the polish bbs who asked me to wear a rainbow.”

Being gay himself, Olly has always been outspoken about LGBT+ rights and issues and revealed earlier this year that he was advised to stay in the closet when he got a record deal.

“One afternoon I met a very nice lady whose job was to help us answer questions in interviews – give us tips, tell us what journalists might try to trip us up on. I asked her what she thought about me being gay.

“She said, with very good intentions I’m sure: ‘Why does anybody need to know about your sexuality? What business is it who you go to bed with? Do you really want to invite personal questions like that? Maybe it’s better to not say anything about your sexuality at all,'” the singer said.

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