Polish President Andrzej Duda signed a bill on Monday banning gay couples from adopting children, report international media. Now it is up to the Polish Parliament, the Sejm, to approve a two-thirds majority to implement the law.
In parliament, Duda’s ruling party Justice and Justice (PiS) does not have an absolute majority, so it is not certain whether the bill will reach the finish line.
The timing of the bill is sensitive: Poland is going to vote for the second round of the presidential elections on Sunday. Duda’s challenger, Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, also said this weekend that he is against adoption rights for gay couples.
In the polls, it seems to be a neck-and-neck race on Sunday. Analysts suspect that Duda wants to bind the far-right voter to him with the bill at the last minute.
“Law improves the safety and well-being of Polish children”
The President said this weekend that the law “improves child safety and ensures welfare for children on a much larger scale.” Earlier this month, Duda opened fire on the LGBTI community, dismissing it as an “ideology worse than all communism.”
The bill requires only heterosexual couples to adopt children and judges to monitor the sexual orientation of individuals so that the children “end up in the right house.”
Duda also wants to stop giving lectures about the LGBTI community in Polish schools. The country was identified as the worst European country for the LGBTI community this year by the LGBTI emancipation organization ILGA-Europe.
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