Warsaw

Gay and lesbian travellers

As with the rest of Poland, a slavish devotion to socially-conservative Catholicism means that many people take an extremely dim view of homosexuality. This is reflected by the city government. The mayor (now the president) has banned the Gay Pride festival three years running on slightly spurious public-order grounds, while little effort has been spent on discouraging violent "family values" demonstrations. That said, the situation is not quite as dire as in the rest of the country, and there is an active gay community and a fair number of gay venues in Warsaw. As in most places, younger people and students usually take a much more liberal view than their parents.