Poland's Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) upheld
an earlier administrative court ruling, effectively
supporting the right of homosexuals and other minority groups to organize
public rallies and marches.

In a ruling issued Thursday, May 25, the court said the mayor of Poznan,
western Poland, and the voivode, the top local government representative
in the Poznan region, did not have the right to ban the 2005 gay march in
the city.

The march was banned by the mayor of Poznan, who cited security reasons. A
year earlier, a similar legal event led to street riots with far-right
activists. The organizers of the march claimed that the mayor of Poznan,
Ryszard Grobelny, surrendered to the demands of far-right parties and the
Catholic clergy, who believed the demonstration was immoral.

The demonstration, called the Equality March and organized in the late
2005, was supposed to promote the equality of minority groups in Poland.
It took place despite the ban on Nov. 19, and the police in Poznan briefly
detained and interrogated 68 demonstrators, who protested against
discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender, race, and disability.

Grobelny's decision was sued by the organizers of the march, whose claims
were also supported by the Citizens' Rights Ombudsman. After an initial
defeat before the Voivodeship Administrative Court for Poznan, Grobelny
sued the first-instance decision to the Supreme Administrative Court. The
NSA ruling is final.

Warsaw authorities have not yet decided if they will allow a gay march to
take place on June 10 in the capital city. Similar gay demonstrations were
banned in 2004 and 2005 by the conservative mayor, now Poland's president,
Lech Kaczynski, who also saw his decisions cancelled by administrative
courts.

Warsaw Independent - Marcin Sobczyk