Source: Associated Press via Newsday, AFP, Financial Times
A gay man from the New York on Tuesday voiced outrage against Poland's President Lech Kaczynski for publicly using a video of his marriage to bash the EU's proposed charter of rights.

"Of course I am outraged that the president and his party would use images of Tom and I, of a very sacred moment for us as a couple," Brendan Fay told Poland's commercial Radio Zet broadcaster.

Kaczynski used a prime-time televised address Monday to argue the EU's proposed Charter of Fundamental Rights, linked to the bloc's crucial reforming Lisbon Treaty, could allow homosexual marriage in Poland, a devoutly Catholic country.

A video clip of Fay's wedding with his partner Tom Moulton was woven into President Lech Kaczynski's televised address to the nation Monday night. Fey and Moulton were not identified by name in the broadcast.

Fay said that Polish immigrants and reporters began calling him on Tuesday, asking how he felt about having his image used in the address.

"My initial reaction was one of surprise and shock really," said Fay, a longtime gay activist who is a co-founder of the All Inclusive St. Patrick's Day Parade in Queens.

The video, along with a photo of the couple's marriage certificate, was shown as the president warned against the dangers of adopting the EU's new treaty and its Charter of Fundamental Rights, which Kaczynski says could open the door to same-sex marriage in Poland. [see Qnews summary]

It was not immediately clear how the images were obtained.

Fay said he submitted his complaint to the Polish consulate in New York on Tuesday.

In the Monday night speech, a stern president cautioned Poles about the treaty’s risks. The president claimed that the proposed governance charter for the European Union could allow for gay marriage, in his words “affecting the accepted moral order in Poland”, as the two men were shown getting married.

In his letter to consul Krzysztof Kasprzyk, Fay wrote that the couple is "frustrated to hear that images from such a joyous day are used to spread intolerance." The couple was married in Canada.

He later said that the couple "would never have agreed to permit our photographs as part of a homophobic campaign."

"Tom and I, we are both Catholic, in fact we met at church at Sunday mass," he added.

There is little support for same-sex marriage in Poland, a deeply Catholic country which joined the European Union in 2004. The Polish constitution states that marriage is only between a man and a woman.

As mayor of Warsaw, Kaczynski refused to grant parade permits for gay rights marches, while his twin brother, former prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has said "it's not in the interest of any society to increase the number of homosexuals."

In addition to the clips of the Fay-Moulton wedding ceremony, Kaczynski's address was interspersed with clips showing a sinister pre-war map of Germany containing territory now in Poland, as well as Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, talking to Erika Steinbach, a politician representing Germans expelled from Poland.

Donald Tusk, Poland’s liberal prime minister, on Tuesday described the audio-visual presentation as “unseemly”.

“Scaring Poles that the EU poses a danger on the part of homosexuals and Germans is foolish, indecent, contrary to our experience and fatally harmful to Poland,” he said.

He added that his government would try to ratify the treaty in parliament and, if that failed, he would call a national referendum. A parliamentary vote is likely after Easter. The treaty has to be ratified by a two-thirds vote of the 460-member parliament, so at least six members of the Law and Justice party would need to defy party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski  and vote for the treaty.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski also warned that his brother, the president, would not be obliged to sign the bill if he did not approve of the way in which the legislature had ratified the treaty.

The initiative by Lech Kaczynski and Law and Justice to amend the ratification law is constitutionally dubious, many scholars say. In order for Poland to abandon its opt-out it would have to gain the agreement of all other EU members. Radoslaw Sikorski, the foreign minister, also told parliament on Tuesday that the treaty would not impose gay marriage or strengthen German property claims against Poland.

The fuss over ratifying the treaty has resurrected Poland’s image as a problematic EU member, an impression that Mr Tusk has tried hard to recast since taking power last October.

“Poland could pay quite a high price for this anti-European commotion,” warned Mr Tusk.

Full article: NYC man protest Polish president for anti-gay marriage speech -- Newsday.com
Poland’s president in treaty tirade | Financial Times
Gay spouse outraged by Polish president's use of wedding video | AFP