Polish Freedom?
This week, the UK parliament voted to allow same-sex couples to marry. Last week, the Polish parliament voted not to allow same-sex couples to form civil partnerships.
I am proud my country decided to do this, and disappointed that this country didn't, for the very simple reason that the UK decision will make a lot of people happy and the Polish decision won't make anyone happy. Making people happy seems to me about the best and only thing any government can hope to do.
“But surely,” you say, “the people who voted against same-sex partnerships will be happy?” No, they won't. People who like to prevent other people doing things are never happy. They are always consumed by the worry that somewhere, someone is doing something they consider morally wrong. Does Poland want to be a nation of happy people, or a nation of uptight moralists?
I've never understood why some people feel this way. Right now, there are men married to men and women married to women in half or Europe, most of North America and a surprisingly large portion of South America. Nobody in Poland seems to worry about this. Why does it matter if they are in Bydgoszcz or Kalisz too?
Same-sex marriages, are now recognised in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United States, Mexico (Mexico for heaven's sake!), and, soon, the United Kingdom. Same-sex partnerships are recognised in so many countries that it would take up the rest of this column to list them.
But not Poland. Poland is keeping itself pure. Whatever Google translate tells you, ‘małżeństwo’ does not mean the same as ‘marriage,’ ‘matrimonio,’ ‘huwelijk,’ or ‘hjónaband.’ The British, the Spanish, the Dutch and the Icelanders have decided that the definition of ‘marriage’ doesn’t need to include the phrase ‘between a man and a woman’ – Poland is sticking with the medieval idea.
The most annoying thing about opposition to same-sex marriage is that it's pointless. In five years or 10 years or however many years, same-sex marriage will happen in Poland. The fundamental principles of self-determination and individual freedom that underlie what we call 'Western' civilisation make this inevitable. Why keep making people unhappy for a bit longer?
If you’re reading this and you are Polish, the chances are you disagree. Recent opinion polls have indicated that about 75 percent of Poles are opposed to the idea of same-sex marriage. I find this surprising. Poles are proud of telling me about the time when their nation was the most tolerant, open and free state in Europe. Why is now one of the least tolerant and most restrictive states in Europe?
What happened to the idea that a man or a woman is his or her own master? Accepting politicians telling people what they can and cannot do doesn’t sound like the kind of thing the Poles I know would usually be happy with. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, in 30 years time, your grandchildren could tell my grandchildren about how Poland led Europe in freedom and tolerance in the 2010s, just like it did in the 16th century?
Jamie Stokes