A lesbian artist could go to jail after creating and posting photos of Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus with rainbow halos around their heads to represent the LGBT community.
In her attempt to promote the LGBT community, 51-year-old Elzbieta Podlesna from Poland edited the country’s most worshipped image of the Mary, the Black Madonna of Czestochowa, by adding rainbow halos to it.
After posting her version of the image near St. Dominik’s church, however, the artist is facing up to two years in jail due to offending the country’s religious beliefs.
“Gazeta Wyborcza reported that the church in Plock had previously used a symbolic tomb of Christ … to convey a message opposing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights,” the Daily Mail reported.
Following Podlesna’s distribution of the controversial image around the church, angry mobs demanded the artist to pay the price for her “attack” on their religion.
Defending her work, the 51-year-old responded by saying:
“This is certainly not an attack on religion, certainly not an attack on faith, this is not a form of attack. How can you attack anyone using a picture, let’s be serious.”
In support of Podlesna’s campaign, fellow LGBT protesters gathered around the church to protect their beliefs.
Speaking of the controversy surrounding the LGBT version of Black Madonna of Czestochowa, Polish Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski said: “No stories about freedom and ‘tolerance’ give ANYBODY the right to offend the feelings of believers.”
Similarly, former Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek expressed that the image “should not take place because they can insult people who are deep believers.”
Striking back at these remarks, Amnesty International representative Barbora Cernusakova said: “Restricting activists from freely expressing their views in the country is unlawful and must stop immediately.”
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