Poland LGBTQ+ Rights

The Proud Science Alliance is a not for profit independent organization that brings together a collective of LGBTQ+ leaders in the Healthcare and Life Sciences sector. With the support of many leading pharmaceutical and life science related companies, this Alliance is committed to helping create workplace environments that are both LGBTQ+ employee safe and inclusive and empowering to members of this community to fulfil their professional potential and enhance the working experiences of others.

With our mission in mind, we are concerned about the continued deterioration of LGBTQ+ rights in Poland. One of our current aims as an organisation is to raise awareness of this issue and then to support life science and healthcare companies who want to ensure inclusive practices for LGBTQ+ employees despite the challenging environment. We already are supporting and connecting LGBTQ+ employee network leaders working in Poland to create safe places inside organisations. Through this work, we join the collective efforts to shift the tide toward LGBTQ+ inclusion to help support continued innovation and contributions by healthcare and life science organisations in Poland. We also call on others to increase their focus and work to contribute to this cause.

The media has widely reported that recent developments in Poland have seen a dramatic erosion of LGBTQ+ rights, with unacceptable acts of violence being witnessed towards members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies1. Justifiably, these events have attracted international criticism and condemnation in support of those afflicted. Poland’s increasingly hostile external environment towards LGBTQ+ individuals and the apparent abandonment of associated legal protections stands diametrically opposed to LGBTQ+ employee safety and inclusion, and thereby contrary to the core values of the Proud Science Alliance. These core values are founded on a fundamental respect for people to enable a work environment built on mutual respect, openness, and individual integrity. We seek to enable workplaces that are safe for all LGBTQ+ people, their allies and other intersectional communities of difference.

In response to these profoundly disturbing events and human rights violations in Poland, the Proud Science Alliance herein seek to reaffirm a visible commitment to delivering a work environment that guarantees physical and psychological safety to all employees, thereby ensuring a workplace that is safe for all to thrive in their careers. Facilitating the uninhibited contributions of LGBTQ+ employees, working within a diverse and inclusive workplace, provides an environment that offers internationally recognised competitive advantage to employers. This is backed by research including a Credit Suisse report documenting better performance by companies who are more LGBTQ+ inclusive2. Therefore, the Proud Science Alliance further appeals to local and national authorities in Poland to restore LGBTQ+ equality and protections for employees in this community.