WARSAW — Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has found an issue to fire up its right-wing backers ahead of this year’s European and national parliamentary elections — LGBTQ rights.

It’s a strategy that plays on some of the country’s deepest divisions, and could pay dividends by splitting the opposition.

The topic gained prominence thanks to last month’s signature by Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski of a 12-point LGBT+ rights declaration. It sets out the city’s policy on issues like finding shelter for children thrown out of their homes by homophobic parents, as well as bringing sexual and tolerance education into the Polish capital’s schools based on World Health Organization guidelines.

Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of PiS and the country’s de facto ruler, seized on the issue during a party convention on Saturday, warning of its “great danger.”

“This danger is an attack on the family, and an attack conducted in the worst possible way, because it’s essentially an attack on children,” he told party loyalists.

His call was backed by party warriors. Krystyna Pawłowicz, one of the most outspoken PiS MPs, tweeted: “We MUST WIN this culture war.”

The country’s powerful Roman Catholic Church also criticized Trzaskowski’s initiative. A bishops’ letter expressed “deep concern” over the WHO guidelines. “The declaration contradicts the constitutional right of parents to raise their children according to their own belief,” the bishops wrote.

The government-appointed children’s ombudsman also raised questions about the LGBT+ declaration and its impact on children, saying “it imposes an ideology affirmed by only a narrow social group on all parents.”

Trzaskowski fired back: “I’d rather the ombudsman occupy himself with children who are persecuted, who commit suicide because of widening intolerance.”

A divided country

Igniting a culture war over gay rights carries political risks and benefits.

For Kaczyński and PiS, it helps cement the party’s control over the right wing of Polish politics. It echoes the party’s successful play on fears of foreigners during the 2015 parliamentary election — at the height of the European migration crisis — when Kaczyński warned of migrants endangering Poles with “all sorts of parasites and protozoa.”

During that 2015 campaign, the party also made lavish social spending promises that helped propel it to victory. PiS is again promising a boost in spending, but there is less money in the kitty this time — which makes social issues even more important.

PiS is using similar language against LGBTQ minorities to that seen in countries like Russia, Turkey and Hungary, where ruling nationalists have used the issue to strengthen their hold on traditional values.

The issue poses a big dilemma for the opposition — most of which has united into an anti-PiS grouping for the European election called the European Coalition. The largest party in that coalition is Civic Platform, which ruled Poland from 2007 to 2015. Under the leadership of Donald Tusk, now president of the European Council, the party dodged and weaved on gay rights. It failed to pass a law on civil partnership rights for gay couples, let alone gay marriage — something outlawed by the Polish constitution.

The bulk of Poland is still very religious and conservative, and Trzaskowski’s declaration could send them moving in the direction of Law and Justice.

However, since its electoral defeat in 2015, Civic Platform — which was formed as a center-right Christian democratic party — has shifted left on social issues.

That plays well in the big liberal cities that form the core of its electoral base, including Warsaw, where Trzaskowski trounced his PiS rival in a vote last year. The party is facing a threat on its left from the new Spring party, led by openly gay former MP Robert Biedroń, but both Civic Platform and the broader European Coalition still include many traditional conservatives.

There are signs of a shift in public thinking on LGBTQ issues. A poll last month by the Ipsos research organization found that 56 percent of Poles support civil partnerships for same-sex couples and 41 percent back marriage rights — new highs for both issues.

But the bulk of Poland is still very religious and conservative, and Trzaskowski’s declaration could send them moving in the direction of Law and Justice.

"PiS ... is using the mistake of the mayor of Warsaw" — Roman Giertych, former politician

Roman Giertych, a former right-wing politician who is now a lawyer for many top Civic Platform officials, warned in a Facebook post that Trzaskowski’s move is a “terrible mistake.”

“PiS is sinking in scandals which are starting to reach the public, but it is using the mistake of the mayor of Warsaw, and already through the statements of Jarosław Kaczyński is saying that it will defend Polish children against the demands of the extreme left,” he wrote, adding: “Ideological subjects dividing the [European Coalition] are the last hope of PiS to hang on to power.”

Trzaskowski insisted Sunday he has done nothing wrong. "Today there is nonsense being said about supposed plans to deprave children. In reality it's about a conversation on tolerance," he said in a Facebook post.

"In recent days I often get questions: 'Rafał why did you do that? Did you miscalculate? Will your actions be worth it?' So no, I didn't calculate anything. I simply believe that's what you have to do."