Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland’s conservative ruling party, Law and Justice (PiS), has called the LGBT+ party ‘a foreign import’ that threatens the Polish nation.

A strident Christian, Kaczynski views the Roman Catholic church as integral to the Polish identity and has claimed that “everyone must accept Christianity” lest be labelled unpatriotic.

His reverence for ‘traditional Polish values’ has culminated in an attack against the LGBT+ community, going as far as to conflate the Pride movement with paedophilia:

“We are dealing with a direct attack on the family and children—the sexualization of children, that entire LBGT movement, gender,” he said.

“This is imported, but they today actually threaten our identity, our nation, its continuation and therefore the Polish state.”

Broadly considered to be the country’s de facto leader, Kaczynski is said to direct both the prime minister and president.

His comments were made during a lecture on patriotism in the city of Wroclawek, and come in the wake of his announcement that anti LGBT+ policies will form a part of his campaign in the run-up to the European elections.

In February, a 12-point declaration was put forward by the mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, the first document to ever officially recognise LGBT+ rights in Polish history.

Unfortunately, Kaczynski labelled it “a great danger”, claiming:

“I did not believe it until I read it,” he said. “This is an attack on the family, and an attack conducted in the worst possible way because it’s essentially an attack on children. We will say no to the attack on children. Polish parents have the right to raise their own children. We will not be intimidated. We will defend the Polish family.”

LGBT+ issues have played a prominent role in Polish politics, particularly under the rule of PiS, Kaczynski continues to push for restrictive laws and further marginalise the LGBT+ community by advocating his conservative views.