The governing Civic Platform (PO) party is reportedly accelerating work on legislation that would extend the criteria of “hate speech” to include LGBT people.

PO, along with left-wing Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and Palikot Movement (RP) want to include gays and transgender people in a law that currently covers insults of an ethnic and national nature.

The daily Rzeczpospolita reports that work on the project has recently returned to the parliamentary sub-committee stage and could be enacted before the end of PO’s parliamentary term in October.

The bill proposes up to three years in prison for insulting gays and lesbians and five years for the use of phyical threat.

Currently, gays and lesbians that are victims of verbal aggression can bring private prosecutions only. (jh)