Krystian Legierski (born 22 April 1978 in

Koniaków is a village in Beskid Śląski mountain range in Cieszyn County, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It is the highest elevated village in Silesian Beskids and lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia. The village is primarily known ...

) is a Polish

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term ...

activist, entrepreneur, member of the

Greens 2004 The Greens ( pl, Partia Zieloni, PZ) is a political party in Poland. It was formed in 2003 under the name "Greens 2004" and formally registered itself in February 2004. It supports principles of green politics, and it is positioned on the ce ...

. In local elections in 2010 he won a seat in the

Warsaw City Council Warsaw City Council, officially the Council of the Capital City of Warsaw ( pl, Rada Miasta Stołecznego Warszawy) is a unicameral governing body of the city of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. The council was first created following the location of ...

, thus becoming the first openly gay politician elected to a political office in Poland.

Biography

He was born in Poland, to a Polish mother and a Mauritanian father who was in Poland as an

international student International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...

.Doug Ireland
Warsaw’s Black Gay Winner
''

Gay City News ''Gay City News'' (stylized as ''gcn'') is a free weekly newspaper based in New York City focusing on local and national issues relating to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. It was founded in 1994 as ''Lesbian Gay New Y ...

'', 8 December 2010. Legierski studied law at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields o ...

. He has been active in LGBT movement. In 2003 he co-authored first draft of a law on

civil union A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

s sponsored in the Polish Senate by

Maria Szyszkowska Maria Szyszkowska (born October 7, 1937 in Warsaw) is a Polish academic, writer and former Senator. Szyszkowska was a member of the Alliance of the Democratic Left (SLD) and chaired that Party's Ethics Committee. She is currently a leader of a soc ...

; the law was passed by the Senate, but was not considered by the

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

. Since 2009 he has been involved in another effort to introduce civil unions into Polish legal system. Between 2006 and 2010 he co-hosted ''Lepiej późno niż wcale'' (Better Late Than Never) - an LGBT radio programme on

TOK FM Agora Spółka Akcyjna (Agora SA) is a Polish media company. Agora and ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' (''The'' ''Electoral Gazette'') were created on the eve of the parliamentary elections in 1989. ''Gazeta Wyborcza'' became the first independent newspape ...

. In 2003 he founded his first club called ''Le Madame'' in the

Warsaw Old Town Warsaw Old Town ( pl, Stare Miasto, italic=yes and colloquially as ''Starówka'') is the oldest part of Warsaw, the capital city of Poland. It is bounded by the ''Wybrzeże Gdańskie'' (Gdańsk Boulevards), along with the bank of the Vistula river, ...

. Le Madame was a nightclub, but also a cultural center, providing space for alternative theatre, music, drag queen shows, art exhibitions and political debate. It was closed by the acting mayor of Warsaw, Mirosław Kochalski, in March 2006, shortly after

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010. Before his tenure as president, he pre ...

, Kochalski's predecessor who had a history of banning

Gay Pride LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to s ...

events in Warsaw, became

President of Poland The president of Poland ( pl, Prezydent RP), officially the president of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Prezydent Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), is the head of state of Poland. Their rights and obligations are determined in the Constitution of Pola ...

.Doug Ireland
"A Polish Stonewall"
''Gay City News'', 6 April 2006. The closure was met with protests, which came to be labelled as "the Polish Stonewall". Along with Le Madame Legierski founded a gay club ''Tomba Tomba'' (later renamed ''Usta Mariana'') as well as ''M25'' - a nightclub and a theatre scene. Legierski was among founding members of the Polish Green party

. In November 2010 he won a seat in Warsaw City Council. He ran on a Social Democratic ballot, following an official electoral agreement between the Greens and the

Democratic Left Alliance The Democratic Left Alliance () was a social-democratic political party in Poland. It was formed in 9 July 1991 as an electoral alliance of centre-left parties, and became a single party on 15 April 1999. It was the major coalition party in Pol ...

.Poland gets first out gay elected official
PinkNews.com, 3 December 2010.

References

External links

Krystian Legierski Facebook page

at the website of Greens 2004 (in Polish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Legierski, Krystian 1978 births The Greens (Poland) politicians Polish gay men Polish LGBT politicians Polish LGBT rights activists Polish LGBT businesspeople Gay politicians Gay businessmen Polish people of Mauritanian descent Politicians of African descent University of Warsaw alumni Living people Councillors in Warsaw Lawyers from Warsaw

Biography

See also

References

External links