This is a useful thread on the "LGBT-free zones" issue. My take on this is simple: if you say LGBT is an ideology, and you pass a resolution banning "LGBT ideology" from your local area, you have by definition declared yourself an LGBT-free zone. https://twitter.com/HebanMaja/status/1307974029949710336

And if you're going to pass a resolution like this, why not own it? What's to be ashamed of?

Some have suggested that these areas cannot be LGBT-free zones because the resolutions don't specify that it means the exclusion of LGBT people. Well, let's try a little thought experiment. Let's say Scunthorpe Council passes a resolution declaring itself "a zone free from the

ideology of Polishness". Does that mean all Poles will immediately be run out of town at the point of a pitchfork? No. Does it mean "Poles are not welcome here"? Yes, of course it does.

While it's reasonable to point out that the resolutions don't explicitly specify banning people, it changes nothing about the consequences of the resolution for LGBT people who live in these places. It is an official document saying "you are not wanted here".

It is very easy for heterosexuals like me to say "yeah, AKSHUERLY I think you'll find they're just talking about ideology, AKSHUERLY, not people", and that response evinces a singular lack of empathy with the people who find themselves targeted by these ordinances.

If my local council was to pass a resolution declaring itself a "zone free from atheist ideology" you can be damn sure I'd feel just as targeted by that as I would if they'd issued a ban on atheists themselves.

(On that point, I have never understood why an LGBT person who is a practising Catholic or a refugee adherent of another Abrahamic religion constitute more of a threat to Poland than an atheist like me, but hey ho.)