The Rainbow Madonna is an adaptation of the

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

Black Madonna of Częstochowa The Black Madonna of Częstochowa ( pl, Czarna Madonna / Matka Boska Częstochowska; la, Imago thaumaturga Beatae Virginis Mariae Immaculatae Conceptae, in Claro Monte, lit=Miraculous Image of the Immaculate Conception, the Blessed Virgin Mary ...

, with the halos colored in

rainbow colors A rainbow is a meteorology, meteorological phenomenon that is caused by Specular reflection, reflection, refraction and dispersion (optics), dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a optical spectrum, spectrum of light appearing in ...

of the

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 is a ...

movement. This modification of the painting, created by a civil rights activist Elżbieta Podleśna, is controversial in predominantly

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

where the original icon is an object of veneration.LGBT Virgin Mary triggers Polish activist's detention
BBC, 14 May 2019 Following the events of 2019, the

US Episcopal Church The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop o ...

asked for permission to sell T-shirts bearing the Rainbow Madonna with proceeds allocated to the Polish

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

community. The Rainbow Madonna affair attracted significant attention in the Polish news cycle. A poll conducted by

KANTAR A kantar is the official Egyptian weight unit for measuring cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Ma ...

concluded that the majority of Poles who identify themselves as religious are not offended by the rainbow Madonna, based on a representative sample of 1,006 Poles. Former prime minister

Donald Tusk Donald Franciszek Tusk ( , ; born 22 April 1957) is a Polish politician who was President of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He served as the 14th Prime Minister of Poland from 2007 to 2014 and was a co-founder and leader of the Civic Pla ...

pointed out that Madonna's painting with a rainbow in the background by

Hans Memling Hans Memling (also spelled Memlinc; c. 1430 – 11 August 1494) was a painter active in Flanders, who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. He was born in the Middle Rhine region and probably spent his childhood in Mainz. He ...

already appears in

St. Mary's Church, Gdańsk St. Mary's Church (Polish: ''Bazylika Mariacka'', german: links=no, St. Marienkirche), or formally the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Brick Gothic Catholic church located in central Gdańsk, Poland. With its volume be ...

References

{{LGBT in Poland LGBT rights LGBT culture in Poland LGBT and Christianity Paintings based on the Gospels Paintings of the Madonna and Child LGBT art Offending religious feelings Black Madonna of Częstochowa