Polish gay activists' fears after Duda vote win

Polish gay activists' fears after Duda vote win

For Jakub Kwiecinski and Dawid Mycek, Polish gay couple and LGBT activists, the election win of incumbent president Andrzej Duda comes with fear and disappointment.

Joe Davies reports.

The reelection of Andrzej Duda as president of Poland was long feared by LGBT rights activists there.

For one couple, Jakub Kwiecinski and Dawid Mycek, it can mean only one thing: more discrimination against them is coming.

Dawid Mycek: "When we saw results from 90% of polling stations we lost hope.

We lost everything." Jakub Kwiecinski: "When we came home and we saw the latest results ... I remember I was wiping Dawid's tears when we saw the exit polls because it is not even about who won Duda or Trzaskowski, but it is about disappointment with people." During the campaign, Duda sought to paint himself as the guardian of the government's social programs while mobilizing his conservative base with attacks on LGBT activism.

He pledged to ensure public schools are banned from discussing gay rights.

Duda's views were in stark contrast to that of his election rival, the more centrist Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.

To many religious conservatives, he came to represent the threats facing traditional values when he pledged to introduced education about LGBT rights in Warsaw schools.

Jakub Kwiecinski: "It looks like we live in a country where hatred wins over love, it looks like we live in a country where fear wins over the openness towards others, in a country where lies win over honesty and I am saying all of this as an ordinary person who is disappointed with people around, disappointed with my neighbours, disappointed with my fellow countrymen."