Poland’s homophobe-in-chief Andrzej Duda tests positive for coronavirus
Andrzej Duda in Rome, September 23rd, 2020. (Grzegorz Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
Andrzej Duda, Poland’s staunchly homophobic president, has tested positive for coronavirus.
Duda, 48, tested positive for the deadly virus yesterday (October 23). He is feeling “fine”, according to presidential minister Blazej Spychalski, who announced the news.
The number of people with coronavirus in Poland is rapidly increasing, with a record 13,600 new cases reported yesterday. More than 228,000 people have been infected during 2020’s coronavirus pandemic, with 4,172 people dying of the respiratory illness COVID-19, which is caused by coronavirus.
“The president yesterday was tested for the presence of coronavirus,” Spychalski said on Twitter on Saturday.
“The result turned out to be positive. The president is fine. We are in constant contact with the relevant medical services.”
It is not known where Duda contracted the virus, although he attended an event in Tallinn on Monday (October 19) where he met Bulgarian president Rumen Radev, who later went into quarantine.
Andrzej Duda is one of a handful of world leaders to have COVID-19, with UK prime minister Boris Johnson, US president Donald Trump and Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro also testing positive this year.
Duda was trolled by left-wing MPs wearing rainbow-coloured outfits in solidarity with the LGBT community when he was officially sworn in for a second term as Poland’s president in August. Duda won a bitter presidential campaign in July, in which he lashed out at same-sex marriage and promised to ban same-sex couples from adopting children.
His electoral success shattered the hopes and dreams of LGBT+ people across the country, with many already reporting leaving Poland in the hope of a better life abroad.
The ultra-conservative politician, who was backed by the ruling Law and Justice party, attacked “gay ideology” early in his re-election campaign, setting the stage for his offensive views.
This new impunity felt by homophobes has seen Pride-goers at parades in far-flung towns have bottles, eggs and firecrackers lobbed at them, while Poland has become a patchwork of “LGBT-free zones” across 100 municipalities – more than one-third of the country.
Members of the Left, as always, in defense of people's freedom and dignity! ❤️?️?✌️
Today at the swearing-in of President of Poland Andrzej Duda: https://t.co/UzQ7hzRPnz
— DorotaMaslowska (@BcDotim) August 6, 2020
