P OLAND FACES an “attack on the family”, says Jaroslaw Kaczynski, chairman of the ruling Law and Justice ( P i S ) party. In 2015 the party swept back to power by claiming it would protect the country against refugees from the Middle East. Now Mr Kaczynski has identified a new threat: gay people. The Polish religious right has long waged war on “gender ideology”, a catch-all term for feminism, gay rights and anything else that involves sex and shocks grandpa. As Poles prepare to elect their representatives to the European Parliament on May 26th, in what parties see as a rehearsal for a national parliamentary election in the autumn, P i S has reviled queerness, backed by the Catholic church.

The row began with a declaration in favour of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ( LGBT ) rights signed by Rafal Trzaskowski, Warsaw’s newly elected liberal mayor, in February. Its proposals include a shelter in Warsaw, anti-discrimination measures and more sex education in schools.

For P i S , this is an affront to children. Since coming to power in 2015, the party has championed traditional families. To encourage women to have more babies, it introduced a hefty monthly handout of 500 zloty ($130) per child. Under pressure from the church, it has considered tightening restrictions on abortion. Funding for IVF treatment has been scrapped.

The row has split Poland. The Polish Bishops’ Conference calls non-heterosexual arrangements “completely alien to European civilisation”. During Easter mass, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Gdansk condemned the “idol of tolerance”. An “ LGBT dictatorship” is approaching, warned a recent cover of Do Rzeczy, a right-wing weekly. Meanwhile, Poland’s ombudsman has urged other cities to adopt declarations like Warsaw’s.