While the atmosphere of hostility towards LGBTI people in Poland is growing dangerously worse, those who stand up for LGBTI rights face an immediate and hostile response from the state apparatus. This report documents the stories of those who uphold LGBTI rights and the repression they face for their peaceful actions. Based on Amnesty International’s 2017 and 2018 reports on freedom of assembly, we show how Polish authorities not only inadequately protect, but add to harassment of LGBTI people. In the result, the defenders of their rights may be dragged through the courts for years just for writing in chalk or hanging a rainbow flag.
