Polish Teachers Promoting 'Homosexual Culture' to Be Fired, Official Says

WARSAW, Poland – Teachers deemed to be promoting "homosexual culture" in Polish schools will be fired, the deputy education minister said Thursday.

But the minister, Miroslaw Orzechowski, also insisted that homosexual teachers would not be targeted.

"There is no place for the promotion of homosexual culture" in Polish schools, Orzechowski, who has a key role in drawing up a new education law aimed at banning what his party called "homosexual propaganda" in schools, told the all-news station TVN24.

He said the ministry still has not defined what it means by homosexual propaganda.

Orzechowski is a member of the ultraconservativeLeague of Polish Families, a junior coalition partner in the government of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

"No one is going to ask whether a teacher is homosexual," Orzechowski said. "However, if a person with such leanings would want to promote homosexuality in school, and I'm not talking about inducing a child to such deeds, well then there's no place for such a person in school."

Poland's Campaign Against Homophobia sharply criticized Orzechowski's comments.

"'Homosexual propaganda' is an idea as absurd as 'heterosexual propaganda,"' the organization said. "One cannot fight with homosexuality, but one can fight with homophobia, of which the Education Ministry presents a radical form."

The League of Polish Families is also campaigning for a constitutional amendment that would tighten Poland's already restrictive law to ban abortion in all cases, including rape and incest.

During a recent visit to Germany, League leader and Education Minister Roman Giertych made similar comments on homosexuality, saying "one must limit homosexual propaganda so that children won't have an improper view of family."