Szymon Niemiec (born 5 October 1977, 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 ...

) is a Polish

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

gay rights activist A list of notable LGBTQ social movements, LGBTQ rights activists who have worked to advance LGBTQ rights by political change, legal action or publication. Ordered by country, alphabetically. Albania * Xheni Karaj, founder of Aleanca LGBT org ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

, and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. He is the founder of the first Polish

Gay Pride In the context of LGBTQ culture, pride (also known as LGBTQ pride, LGBTQIA pride, LGBT pride, queer pride, gay pride, or gay and lesbian pride) is the promotion of the rights, self-affirmation, dignity, Social equality, equality, and increas ...

parade, ''

Parada Równości Equality Parade () is an LGBT community pride parade held in Warsaw since 2001, usually in May or June. It has attracted at least several thousand attendees each year; 20,000 attendees (the largest number of any year prior to 2017) were reporte ...

'' held in 2001. From 2000 to 2006, Niemiec held the post of Cultural Ambassador of Poland to the International Lesbian and Gay Culture Network. From 2001 to 2005, he was President of the International Lesbian and Gay Culture Association in Poland. Niemiec has been a member of the Union of the Left party since 2002, and on 6 May 2005 he was elected vice president. Since 2008 he is also a pastor of Free Reformed Church of Poland, a progressive Christian denomination. Since 2010 he serves as Elder in Full Connection and Dean of Missionary Conference for Europe in Christian United Church of Poland. On 25 August 2012, Niemiec was consecrated for a Bishop of the Church by Archbishop Terry Flynn. In May 2007 he published his first book: ''Rainbow Humming Bird on the Butt.'' From 2008, Niemiec became a member of the

National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists, is an American professional association dedicated to coverage of LGBTQ+ issues in the media. It is based in Washington, D.C., and the membership consists primarily of journalists, students, educators, ...

, and president of the board of "Friends of Szymon" foundation. In October 2019, Niemiec was interrogated by police under suspicion of

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 ...

"by insulting the object of worship in the form of a Roman Catholic Mass"; police had received more than 150 complaints regarding the incident. He had held an ecumenical, LGBT religious service for Warsaw's 2019

Equality Parade Equality Parade () is an LGBT community pride parade held in Warsaw since 2001, usually in May or June. It has attracted at least several thousand attendees each year; 20,000 attendees (the largest number of any year prior to 2017) were reporte ...

, criticized by the Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference of Poland and Law and Justice politicians. Niemiec had held similar services every year since 2010 with little controversy. Niemiec and Julia Maciocha, president of the committee which organizes Equality Parade, stated that the complaint violates the constitutional guarantee of

freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty, also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice ...

Bibliography

* * * *

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Niemiec, Szymon 1977 births Living people Polish LGBTQ rights activists Polish Calvinist and Reformed ministers Polish politicians Polish male journalists Polish LGBTQ journalists Polish gay politicians Polish gay writers LGBTQ Calvinist and Reformed ministers Gay journalists 21st-century Polish LGBTQ people