Dutch city breaks ties with Polish Pulawy due to 'LGBT-free zone'

Nieuwegein severed its friendly ties with Pulawy after the Polish city recently established itself as "LGBT-free". The Dutch city is not the first: in February, the French municipality of Saint-Jean-de-Braye broke ties with their Polish twin city Tuchow for the same reasons.
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Alderman Marieke Schouten symbolically put rainbow stickers on the welcome signs of the city, over Pulawy. “This is a statement. Gay-free zones are not done, ” she tells RTV Utrecht. She hopes to support the LGBT community in Pulawy in this way.

But it is not just the stickers: mayor Frans Backhuijs sent a letter to the mayor of Pulawy in March on behalf of the entire municipality. In the letter, Nieuwegein expressed its concerns about the exclusion of people on the basis of their sexual orientation. The letter was never officially replied to.

Andrzesj Duda, the incumbent President of Poland, was recently re-elected with a minimal margin. In the election campaign, he promised to limit the rights of homosexuals. Under Duda's rule, several Polish regions declared themselves "LGBT + free".

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