■ Brendan Fay and Tom Moulton at yesterday’s solidarity for Belarus concert in Warsaw. photo courtesy KPH, Warsaw.

WARSAW, March 31, 2008  – Gay Americans Brendan Fay and Tom Moulton found a media frenzy when they arrived at Warsaw airport yesterday for a three-day visit.

The couple, who were married in Canada, hit the international headlines when their wedding image was used in Polish President Lech Kaczynski’s televised prime-time address to scare the Polish people against supporting the Lisbon Treaty, arrived to Warsaw for a three-day visit.

The trip is sponsored by TVN Television.

Their first day in Poland was an opportunity to meet with Polish gay rights leaders Tomasz Szypula and Greg Czarnecki from the Campaign Against Homophobia (Kampania Przeciw Homofobii – KPH) as well as other members of the LGBT community.

Fay and Moulton were eager to get to know about the situation and issues of LGBT people in the East European nation.

The Polish activists showed the couple from New York some major sites in the city such as the former Jewish Ghetto and the Old Town and attended a Catholic Mass in the afternoon.

They were also able to see a rock concert in solidarity of Belarus.

Later they had dinner together with one of Poland’s most prominent gay couples Tomasz Raczek, film critic, and Marcin Szczygielski, writer.

“For us this is a journey of friendship and solidarity.  It’s a most unexpected opportunity to share our story and hear the stories of the courageous lesbian and gay community in Poland”, say Fay and Moulton.

In a statement, KPH said: “We are very honoured to have Fay and Moulton here in order to start a public dialog on domestic partnerships.

“We are happy that in fact the couple has received a lot of expressions of support from Poles both within the country and abroad.”

SEE ALSO

Report (in Polish), with video, of the arrival of Fay and Moulton in Warsaw. (TVN-24, March 30, 2008)

Polish Gay Group Slams President Over Unauthorised Use of Same-Sex Wedding Images on TV.  The Campaign Against Homophobia (Kampania Przeciw Homofobii – KPH) has expressed disappointment following the televised ‘prime time’ address by Polish President Lech Kaczynski at the beginning of the week on TVP.  (UK Gay News, March 22, 2008)

LINK

website

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence.  

Posted: 31 March 2008 at 08:00 (UK time)