Opinion: Anna Grodzka
Anna Grodzka: A World Class TransGender Role Model from an Unlikely Place
When I came from California, to live in Szczecin for the first time I only lasted one year. The lack of human diversity was too big of a shock. Eight years later, although racial diversity hasnt increased in significant numbers in Szczecin, it has increased enough for me to give it another try. In my opinion, women have gained substantial influence and visibility in Poland. Even more interesting, minorities previously marginalized in Polish society, such as the LGBT community, are now gaining a public voice. Two LGBT people were elected to public office in the 2010 elections.
It is within this context that I find the rise of Anna Grodzka, MP from Krakow, to be simply phenomenal. With or without her nomination as Deputy Speaker in the Sejm (lower house of parliament) Anna Grodzka is currently the highest ranking transgender politician in the world. The fact that she has been elected in one of the most homophobic countries in Europe and has steadfastly and amicably served her term qualifies her as a modern day She-ro, in my opinion.
Grodzka must tolerate extremely personal questions about her private life, a burden which other politicians would never accept. She endures harassment, insults and even death threats on a regular basis. Her offices in Krakow and Warsaw have been repeatedly vandalized, but Ms. Grodzka wipes away the graffiti and hangs new flags to show she will fight another day.
Ms. Grodzka shows respect and class to people who do not offer her the same courtesy. Opposition Law and Justice (PiS) MP Krystyna Pawłowicz went on a tirade on the parliament floor about gay people and their lifestyles and publicly insulted Ms. Grodzka about her identity. It gave me great pleasure to see the vehement rejection of her statements by other politicians and the Polish media. Although the video of Ms. Pawłowicz speaks for itself, making her look quite unrefined, I couldn’t help but wonder if some of the people were only opposing Pawłowicz’s statements in order not to look bad to the European Union.
From my recent experience, I find a large part of the Polish population to have outdated, uninformed and very judgmental views, that strongly contrast with the progressive historical trends of our european partners. With the strong desire to be “accepted” as an equal partner in the european community, in my opinion, Poland has been put on a fast track, like it or not, to applying the concepts of modern democracy to its “traditional” society . I say this can only be good and the faster the better!!!
Anna Grodzka with Robert Biedron
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