Lambda Warsaw Association (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

: ''Stowarzyszenie Lambda Warszawa'') is the oldest operating Polish

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 ...

organisation An organization or organisation ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is an entity—such as a company, or corporation or an institution ( formal organization), or an association—comprising one or more people and having a pa ...

. It was founded in October 1997 by activists of Rainbow Centre (''Ośrodek “Rainbow”''), which existed from 1995 to 1997. As a

public interest In social science and economics, public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. While it has earlier philosophical roots and is considered to be at the core of democratic theories of government, often paired ...

, its aim is to create a positive

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

and

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

identity, and build social tolerance toward

sexual minorities Sexual and gender minorities (SGM) comprise individuals whose sexual identity, sexual orientation, sexual behavior, or gender identity differ from the majority of the surrounding society. Sexual minorities include lesbians, gay men, bisexual peo ...

. In 2004, the association acquired the status of a public interest organisation (OPP), and has been a part of the Mazowia Federation since then.

Fields of activity

*Psychological help and support for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people: setting up a helpline (Monday to Friday, 6 – 9 pm: 022 628 5222); office duty of psychiatrists, therapists, and lawyers;

Gadu-Gadu Gadu-Gadu ( Polish for "chit-chat"; commonly known as GG or gg) is a Polish instant messaging client using a proprietary protocol. At one time, Gadu-Gadu was the most popular IM service in Poland, with over 15 million registered accounts and ...

Messenger duty; Internet chat duty; support and meeting groups (both for gay, lesbian, and transgender people, and their relatives). *HIV/AIDS and addictions prevention: Safer Relationships programme (Program “Bezpieczne związki”), street- and partyworkers’ actions in LGBT clubs; office duty at Lambda Warszawa HQ; Internet chat duty; addictions prevention projects; internet portal www.bezpytan.pl. *Cultural and social actions addressed to LGBT people: The Film Club; library and reading room; organising discussions and meetings about LGBT literature; active students’ group *Anti-

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

actions: Report on Sexual Discrimination in Poland (“Raport o dyskryminacji ze względu na orientację seksualną w Polsce”); social actions: Global Village (as part of All Different – All Equal Council of Europe Campaign, March 2007); Living Library project; anti-discrimination trainings. Along with

Campaign Against Homophobia Campaign Against Homophobia (, KPH) is a Polish LGBTQ rights organisation, which aims to promote legal and social equality for people outside of heteronormativity, heteronormality. It was founded in Warsaw in September 2001. It has local branche ...

(KPH) and other LGBT organisations from across the Europe (Germany, France, and Spain), Lambda Warszawa annually gives Tolerance Award (Nagroda Tolerancji) for sexual orientation-based anti-

exclusion Exclusion may refer to: Legal or regulatory * Exclusion zone, a geographic area in which some sanctioning authority prohibits specific activities * Exclusion Crisis and Exclusion Bill, a 17th-century attempt to ensure a Protestant succession in En ...

policy. Polish Tolerance Award laureates are

Kazimierz Kutz Kazimierz Julian Kutz (16 February 1929 – 18 December 2018) was a Polish film director, author, journalist and politician, one of the representatives of the Polish Film School and a deputy speaker of the Senate of Poland. Biography Kazimie ...

(2006), Piotr Pacewicz (2007), Marzanna Pogorzelska (2008), and Zbigniew Holda (2009). Thanks to Lambda Warszawa presidents, Yga Kostrzewa and Krzysztof Kliszczynski, along with activists from other Polish LGBT organisations, the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

pronounced illegal the ban put by the president of Warsaw, Lech Kaczynski, on the Equality Parade in 2005. Lambda Warszawa is the first and only LGBT organisation in Poland that provides microgrants to other organisations that help homosexual persons: as part of Stonewall Fund, Lambda Warszawa Microgrant Fund, the first fund competition was launched on May 28, 2009.

Projects

*Helpline and Legal and Psychological Help Programme: started in Rainbow Centre in 1995, running since then *Safer Relationships programme: HIV/AIDS prevention since 2000 *Report on Sexual Discrimination in Poland: 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2005–2006 *Sunday with Lambda project (projekt „Niedziela z Lambdą”) from 2002 until 2004: monthly movie and discussion meetings in Bastylia, a pancake shop in Warsaw *I Choose Tolerance project (projekt “Wybieram tolerancję”): an action connected to self-government elections in 2006 (inquiring future officials about their attitude toward LGBT people) *Season for Rubber project (projekt “Sezon na gumy”): all-Poland informational action about the usage of condoms (http://www.sezonnagumy.pl, 2007) *Co-creation of Polish National Campaign Committee (NCC): committee coordinating Polish campaign All Different-All Equal by Council of Europe (2007-2008) *Global Village project: anti-homophobia action (March 2007) *Academy of Anti-Discrimination project: trainings for self-government officials and non-governmental activists as part of European Year of Equal Chances for All (ERRSW)(March 2008) *Living Library Project: Let’s Talk About Diversity (Projek
Żywa Biblioteka – porozmawiajmy o różnorodności
(2008-2009) *Counselling service: www.bezpytan.pl (2009) *Stonewall Fund: Lambda Warszawa Microgrant Fund (since May 2008) *Counteract discrimination - it is not difficult! project (projekt "Przeciwdziałaj dyskryminacji – to nie jest trudne!"): project against discrimination based on gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion or age
przeciwdzialajdyskryminacji.pl
(2009)

Authorities

Authorities of the association are elected by its members during general election meetings. Term in office of the management lasts two years, and, as chairpersons, there have been: *Michal Pawlega (1997-2005) * Yga Kostrzewa (2005-2007) *Krzysztof Kliszczynski (2007-2011, 2019-) *Dorota Bregin (since 2011)

References

Publications

*Report on Sexual Discrimination in Poland (2000, 2001, 2002, 2005-2006) *Against Discrimination. Education Pack for Trainers (Warsaw 2005, , ) *Let’s Talk About Diversity. Living Library. A Book of Good Practice (Warsaw 2008) *A Legal Guide for Lesbians, Gays, and Transsexuals (Warsaw 2008) *A Guide for Helpline Operators (Warsaw 2008)

External links

Lambda Warszawa official website
(en) (pl) *http://www.bezpytan.pl (de) (en) (pl) (ru)
Living Library project website
(pl)
Stonewall Fund - Lambda Warszawa Microgrant Fund website
(pl)
All Different – All Equal campaign website
(pl) {{LGBT in Poland LGBTQ rights in Poland LGBTQ organisations based in Poland 1997 establishments in Poland Organisations based in Warsaw 1997 in LGBTQ history Organizations established in 1997