The anti-LGBTQ resolution will be upheld even at the cost of losing EU funds. The resolution is backed by both the ruling party and the Catholic church.

The Malopolska region is southern Poland is refusing to back down on its anti-LGBTQ resolution despite the risk of losing up to 2.5 billion euros in EU funding. Malopolska adopted a resolution two years ago opposing “public activities aimed at promoting the ideology of the LGBTQ movements.” The resolution has sparked conflict between Warsaw and Brussels, and last month the European Commission launched a legal procedure against Poland, saying Warsaw has failed to respond adequately to the EU’s inquiry over the so-called “LGBTQ ideology-free zones”. The deadline for Poland to respond is 15 September.

Because of the conflict (and Brussels’s threat to withhold 2.5 billion euros of funding), opposition members of the Malopolska regional assembly called for a vote on Thursday on withdrawing the resolution. However, representatives of the ruling party PiS thwarted the opposition effort.

The leader of the Malopolska regional assembly, Jan Duda (the father of Polish President Andrzej Duda) said the sole aim of the resolution was to protect families.

The resolution is also backed by the representatives of the Catholic church in Poland. “Freedom has a price, and this price includes honour. Freedom cannot be bought for money,” Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski said in a sermon on Sunday, warning also of a “battle of Virgin Mary and her followers against the neo-Marxist LGBTQ ideology.”

Brussels is also trying to punish Hungary for similar reasons. Launching infringement procedures, the European Commission is criticising the Hungarian government for a new law excluding LGBTQ activists from content accessible for children. Hungarian citizens will be able to decide on the issue in a referendum.

ILGA-Europe ranks Poland as the most homophobic country in the EU.