Gay rights campaigners in Poland yesterday condemned a court ruling allowing a far-right group to formally register a 'no gay sex' symbol as its official logo.
A judge allowed the small National Rebirth of Poland (NOP) party to register the homophobic symbol in a little noticed decision at the end of October.
The symbol - a stylised representation of gay sex with a red line crossing it - has provoked horror among gay rights campaigners in the country.
Homophobic: Polish far-right activists wave placards denouncing homosexuality during a protest in 2009. Polish gay rights campaigners have slammed a court ruling allowing a group to formally register a homophobic symbol its logo
'Such symbols tap directly into fascist, neo-fascist and xenophobic traditions, and intolerance,' said Robert Biedron, Poland's first openly gay MP, told reporters, according to AFP.
Mr Biedron, who is one of Poland's most prominent gay rights campaigners and newly elected as part of the country's left-wing opposition, urged the justice ministry to step in.
The gay community in Poland has in the past told of living amid a 'climate of fear'.
Opinion polls in the country - where over 90 per cent of the population is Roman Catholic - show two out of three Poles opppose gay rights demonstrations.
Fascist: The NOP also won the right to use the Celtic Cross - an internationally recognised symbol of neofascism
The NOP, which turns out regularly to oppose gay rights rallies, has been back in the spotlight after clashing with police during Poland's Independence Day celebrations on November 11.
The group hailed the court ruling, which also allowed it to adopt the Celtic cross - an international symbol of the far-right and neofascism.
It said on its website the decision had capped a two-year legal fight.
But Grzegorz Schetyna, a senior politician with Civic Platform, Poland's ruling cerntrist group, accused the judge who took the decision of failing in his duties.
AFP reported Mr Schetyna telling Polish station Radio Zet that 'such symbols are unacceptable.'
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