page_title: Elżbieta Podleśna
section_title: Rainbow Madonna
hierarchical_section_title: Elżbieta Podleśna / Activism / Rainbow Madonna
caption_attribution_description: English: Equality March 2019 in Częstochowa
context_page_description: Elżbieta Podleśna is a Polish psychotherapist and civil rights activist.
context_section_description: In late April 2019, Podleśna placed images of Black Madonna of Częstochowa, with a rainbow halo, in Płock, including on the private territory of a church to protest an Easter display by the Catholic church that featured LGBT and gender as sins. In garbage cans throughout town she placed a list of bishops who allegedly protected priests accused of sexual abuses. Speaking of her motivation, Podleśna said:
  Nobody should be excluded from society. Sexual orientation is not a sin or a crime and the Holy Mother would protect such people from the Church and from priests who think it is okay to condemn others.
  In May 2019, after she returned from an Amnesty International advocacy tour, she was arrested by police at 6 in the morning and had her apartment searched. At the police station, she was charged with offending religious feelings, a crime punishable with up to two years in prison, for profanation of the image. The arrest was condemned by Amnesty International and the Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. While the names of suspects are redacted under Polish law until the conclusion of proceedings, Podleśna revealed her name to the media.
  Podleśna said she received death threats for her protest in Płock. According to Gabriela Rogowska, the arrest of Podleśna was designed to discourage further activity. Joachim Brudziński, the Polish Interior Minister and PiS party member, praised the arrest saying Podleśna's protest involved "the desecration of the image of Our Lady, which has been considered sacred by Poles for centuries". The Płock court ruled the arrest was legal, though unreasonable.
  Following the events, the US Episcopal Church asked for permission to sell T-shirts bearing the Rainbow Madonna with proceeds allocated to the Polish transgender community.
caption: Black Madonna with a rainbow, 2019 Equality March in Częstochowa
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