WARSAW, Poland -- When New York gay-rights activist Brendan Fay married his boyfriend, he never imagined that the Polish president would air his wedding video across the Catholic nation as a warning against homosexual marriage.
Fay was shocked to learn that President Lech Kaczynski used a brief clip of his wedding to his partner Tom Moulton in a televised speech last week, and quickly filed a complaint with the Polish Consulate in New York.
"Our images clearly were being used in a campaign by the president of Poland against lesbian and gay persons, and fostering intolerance and fear among the people of Poland," Fay said.
The video and the couple's marriage certificate were shown as the president warned against the dangers of adopting the European Union's new treaty and its Charter of Fundamental Rights, which Kaczynski says could open the door to same-sex marriage in Poland.
Kaczynski said that the charter contains an article that fails to clearly define marriage as a "union between a man and a woman."
That "may go against the universally accepted moral order in Poland and force our country to introduce an institution in conflict with the moral convictions of the decided majority of our country," Kaczynski said as the images flashed across the screen.
It was not clear how the pictures were obtained.
Fay said that Polish immigrants and reporters began calling him on March 18, asking how he felt about having images of his used in the speech. He said he went that day to the Polish consulate to complain.
In his letter to consul Krzysztof Kasprzyk, Fay wrote that the couple, who married in Canada, are "frustrated to hear that images from such a joyous day are used to spread intolerance."
He later added that the couple "would never have agreed to permit our photographs as part of a homophobic campaign."
Although there is an active gay-rights movement in Poland, there is little official support for same-sex marriage in Poland, a mainly Roman Catholic country that joined the EU in 2004. The Polish constitution states that marriage is only between a man and a woman.
As mayor of Warsaw, Kaczynski refused to grant parade permits for gay-rights marches, and his twin brother, former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has said "it's not in the interest of any society to increase the number of homosexuals."
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