In May of 2019, the small community of Krasnik, Poland was one of the first in the country to sign a declaration against LGBTQ rights. At the time, Mayor Wojciech Wilk saw the declaration as a "symbolic and legally pointless gesture", and a way to placate religious conservatives in the rural village. He was wrong.
The declaration has turned "our town into a synonym for homophobia," he told the New York Times, a reputation which he insisted was not accurate.
"We have become Europe's laughingstock, and it's the citizens not the local politicians who've suffered most."
via Pink News
In the past, Krasnik received millions of dollars through foreign funding, including a twinning programme which quickly dissolved when a French town severed their relationship in protest of the town's bigoted legislation. Norway also pulled nearly 38,184500 zł ($US10 million) for development projects after it refused to give grants to any "LGBT-free" towns. A good bit of this money was supposed to fund things like electric buses and youth programs (because young people keep leaving town for some unfathomable reason).
As much as he tries to have the resolution repealed, Wilk faces a Sisyphean task, especially with locals like 73-year-old Jan Chamara, who said:
…he would rather live on a diet of just potatoes than give into economic pressure from outside to repeal the resolution.
"I don't want their money," he said, admitting that he's never seen gay people in Krasnik but still felt precautions were necessary. "We will survive."
via Pink News
Mayor Wilk, however, is adamant about the town's declaration being repealed, not because he supports the rights of LGBTQ people, but "because it's harmful for the town and its inhabitants."
