A judge has ordered Polish anti-abortion activist Kaja Godek to apologise for calling former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar a “deviant”. The episode took place on a Polish talkshow on May 30, 2018. 

Although Poland has laws criminalising hate speech, they do not cover sexual orientation or gender identity as protected characteristics. Five months after the homophobic live TV incident, a group of 15 Polish LGBTQ+ activists sued Godek, saying her remarks had infringed their rights. 

Godek’s statements included her description of homosexuality as a “perversion” that “often goes hand in hand with paedophilia”.

The Polish television discussion took place shortly after Ireland’s abortion referendum, which led Godek to say she was not surprised by the outcome given former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had exposed his “bizarre” sexual orientation and shown “his perversion to the people”.

As reported by The Irish Time, when the host asked Godek if she was saying homosexuals were perverted, she continued: “Yes, yes. If the prime minister of Ireland declares that he has a male sexual partner, if it is accepted as normal, it is monstrous that such a country should be defined as a Catholic country.”

Godek had other appearances on the Polish TV show, stating that “the homolobby is interested in the sexualisation of children because homosexuality very often goes hand in hand with paedophilia”.

In recent testimony, she described herself as a victim of the “homosexual lobby”.

After the case was rejected in 2021 by a district court in Warsaw, plaintiffs have successfully kept appealing against that decision. In the latest ruling, the district court found Godek guilty, making the ruling the first time a Polish court recognises that homophobic hate speech has a personally harming effect.

A justification for the ruling has not yet been published, but Ms Godek already plans to appeal against the judgment, stating that it represents a threat to free speech. 

Regarding the situation, Varadakar told The Irish Times: “I am a big fan of Poland and I hope the government there honours its pledges to recognise same-sex partnerships soon,” he said. “This would be a very positive move, given the backsliding on equal rights in other parts of the world.”