Married American Gay Couple Visit Warsaw – Day Two Was “Amazing”

Married American Gay Couple Visit Warsaw – Day Two Was “Amazing”

Tom and Brendan On Day Two

Married American Gay Couple Visit Warsaw – Day Two Was “Amazing”



From TV studio to Parliament and back again







■ Brendan Fay (left) and Tom Moulton meet retired Supreme Court Judge Teresa Romer in Warsaw.
photo courtesy KPH, Warsaw.

WARSAW, APRIL 1, 2008 – An amazing day – that was how Tom Moulton summed up the second day of his Warsaw visit with partner Brendan Fay.

Video footage of the American couple’s wedding in Canada was used by President Lech Kaczynski in a televised prime-time address last month to scare the Polish people against supporting the Lisbon Treaty. The use of the footage has caused an international storm.

“The questions and answers that people usually whisper about were finally brought out into the open,” Mr. Moulton remarked.

“We hope that it was as freeing and liberating a day for many of the Polish people as it was for us.”

Fay and Moulton, together with Campaign Against Homophobia (Kampania Przeciw Homofobii – KPH) representatives Tomasz Szypula and Greg Czarnecki, went to the Polish Parliament to meet with the chairman for the Commission for Justice and Human Rights, Ryszard Kalisz.

As was the case on Sunday, journalists created a media melée which lasted from the moment of entry into the Parliament until a short press conference which was held later.

“Thanks to the invitation that Fay and Moulton got to visit the Parliament, we were offered a great opportunity to propose some recommendations to the government which would work towards gaining equal rights for LGBT people", said Mr. Szypula.

Then it was on to meet with Zbigniew Holda and Adam Bodnar at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights where a very fruitful conversation was held in which it was agreed that the gay couple would try all avenues for dialog with the Polish President's office first.

It was raised that the Polish Constitution includes a principle of the importance of dialog. If needs be, the Helsinki Foundation offered their legal support in supplying pro bono help.

In the evening KPH hosted an informal meeting with ‘progressives’. Around 30 people came to meet and share stories with the couple. Among the guests were Teresa Romer, retired Supreme Court judge, Wanda Nowicka, activist for women’s rights, and Lambda Warsaw members.

Finally in the evening, Fay and Moulton appeared on a popular primetime talk show, Teraz My (Now Us), on TVN, who are sponsoring the visit to Poland.

Their appearance was complimented by KPH vice-president Marta Abramowicz who made a statement about the dire consequences of hate speech especially on LGBT youth.



■ At the TVN studios. From left to right: Andrzej Mrozowski, Molton, Fay, Tomasz Sekielski, Greg Czarnecki.
photo courtesy KPH, Warsaw.