Elżbieta Podleśna (; born ),
CNN, Paul P. Murphy and Antonia Mortensen, 7 May 2019 also known as Elzbieta Podlesna, is a Polish

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

activist.LGBT Virgin Mary triggers Polish activist's detention
BBC, 14 May 2019 She was a leading person in the Polish Women's Strike protests in 2017 and 2018. She has also worked as a

psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

Personal

Podleśna lives in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

. While not a practicing Catholic, she believes in God.

Activism

In 2017, she was one of the leading activists in Polish Women's Strike.Solidarity according to Polish women in 2017
Irma Allen,

Eurozine ''Eurozine '' is a network of European cultural magazines based in Vienna, linking up more than 90 partner journals and just as many associated magazines and institutions from nearly all European countries. ''Eurozine'' is also an online magazin ...

, 16 August 2017 Speaking on why she demonstrates against fascist groups, Podleśna said: In November 2017, she was one of 14 women who attempted to stop the Polish independence day march in Warsaw. She was forcibly removed, and suffered spinal injuries forcing her to wear a medical corset. In July 2018, she sprayed " PZPR" on the windows of the parliamentary office of in

Wąbrzeźno Wąbrzeźno () is a town in northern Poland, in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, about northeast of Toruń. It is the capital of the Wąbrzeźno County. The population is 13,877 inhabitants (2010). History Along with Chełmno Land, the are ...

, as well as political offices in

Golub-Dobrzyń Golub-Dobrzyń () is a town in north-central Poland, located on the Drwęca. It is the capital of Golub-Dobrzyń County in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and has a population of 13,060. Golub-Dobrzyń was established on May 5, 1951 through me ...

.Elżbieta Podleśna in court for the inscriptions "PZPR" at the offices of PiS politicians? Victims do not agree to conditional remission
20 March 2019, Nowości Dziennik Toruński, MAŁGORZATA OBERLAN On the street before the offices she spray painted "Time for judgement". Podleśna said she acted since she was terrified by the actions of the

Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...

(PiS) party and the changes to the state system in Poland. initially, Podleśna was charged with the crime of "promoting a totalitarian system" as well as vandalism, however the totalitarianism charge was dropped. At trial, she pleaded guilty to the vandalism charge.

Rainbow Madonna

In late April 2019, Podleśna placed images of

Black Madonna of Częstochowa The Black Madonna of Częstochowa (; ), also known as Our Lady of Częstochowa () is a venerated icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary enshrined at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa, Poland. Pope Clement XI issued a Pontifical decree of canon ...

, with a

rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

halo, in

Płock Płock (pronounced ), officially the Ducal Capital City of Płock, is a city in central Poland, on the Vistula river, in the Masovian Voivodeship. According to the data provided by Central Statistical Office (Poland), GUS on 31 December 2021, the ...

, including on the private territory of a church to protest an Easter display by the Catholic church that featured

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

and

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

as sins. In garbage cans throughout town she placed a list of bishops who allegedly protected priests accused of sexual abuses. Speaking of her motivation, Podleśna said: In May 2019, after she returned from an

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

advocacy tour, she was arrested by police at 6 in the morning and had her apartment searched. At the police station, she was charged with

offending religious feelings Offending religious feelings could refer to: * Offending religious feelings (Philippines) *Offending religious feelings (Poland) Offending religious feelings () is a blasphemy law in Poland. According to Article 196 of the Penal Code: "Whoever of ...

, a crime punishable with up to two years in prison, for profanation of the image. The arrest was condemned by

and the Polish

Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights is the name of non-governmental organizations in a number of countries established under the now defunct International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. The organizations include: * * Turkmen Helsinki ...

. While the names of suspects are redacted under Polish law until the conclusion of proceedings, Podleśna revealed her name to the media. Podleśna said she received death threats for her protest in Płock. According to Gabriela Rogowska, the arrest of Podleśna was designed to discourage further activity.

Joachim Brudziński Joachim Stanisław Brudziński (born 4 February 1968 in Świerklaniec) is a Polish conservative politician. He was elected (first time) to the Sejm on 25 September 2005, getting 14,731 votes in 41 Szczecin district as a candidate from the Praw ...

, the Polish Interior Minister and PiS party member, praised the arrest saying Podleśna's protest involved "the desecration of the image of Our Lady, which has been considered sacred by Poles for centuries". The Płock court ruled the arrest was legal, though unreasonable. Following the events, the

US Episcopal Church The Episcopal Church (TEC), also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA), is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, based in the United States. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is ...

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

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

community.The American Episcopal Church sells T-shirts with the Holy Mother of God
Queer.pl, 19 June 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Podlesna, Elzbieta Living people Polish women psychologists Polish psychologists Former Roman Catholics Health professionals from Warsaw Year of birth missing (living people) Polish LGBTQ rights activists Offending religious feelings Polish women activists