Robert Biedroń (; born 13 April 1976) is a Polish politician, former mayor of Słupsk, and LGBT activist who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since 2019.
Biedroń was a member of the Sejm during its 7th session (2011–2014). He's also a former member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. He was the mayor of Słupsk from 2014 to 2018.
Biedroń launched a new political party called Spring in February 2019, and was elected as the Member of the European Parliament on his party's list on 26 May 2019. He is one of the three leaders of The Left (Lewica), a political alliance founded to contest the 2019 parliamentary election composed of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), Spring and the Left Together (Lewica Razem).
He ran as a candidate for president of Poland in the 2020 election and received 2.21 percent of all votes, making him the sixth most popular candidate.
Early life and education
Biedroń was born on 13 April 1976 in Rymanów, in Podkarpackie Voivodeship. He grew up in Krosno.
Biedroń completed his secondary education in Ustrzyki Dolne. He received a bachelor in Political Science at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn (2000). He received a master's degree in the same field in 2003. He is also a graduate of the School of Political and Social Leaders and the School of Human Rights at the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation.
Aside from his native Polish, Biedroń speaks English, French, Russian, Esperanto and Italian.
Activism
Biedroń has co-operated with Polish and international LGBT rights organizations for many years. Following his studies, he travelled to London and joined the British NGO OutRage!.
Biedroń participated in the first Gay Pride ever organized in Poland on 1 May 2001. In September 2001, he co-founded the Polish Campaign Against Homophobia (Kampania Przeciw Homofobii).
Biedroń's commitment to LGBT rights has been recognized several times: he received, for instance, the "Rainbow Laurels" in 2003 and was named "Rainbow Man" in 2004.
Faithful to Your Movement's values, to social liberalism, secularism and a Europhile vision of the EU; he advocates for a separation of church and state in practice and not just in words, for the removal of catechism classes from public schools, he supports feminism (notably the right to abortion for all women), same-sex marriages in Poland, free access to contraception and sexual education.
Biedroń founded the Institute for Democratic Thought (Instytut Myśli Demokratycznej), a progressive think-tank which conducted a program entitled Scenarios for Poland. The Institute analysed the possible evolutions of the country in the next 20 years and formulated policy recommendations. Robert Biedroń has also built the Progressive Cities''' network – a platform of cities' cooperation and good practice exchange aimed at supporting local, progressive politics based on participatory democracy, transparency and an open local community.
Biedroń is the author of several books, notably a handbook on the functioning of a democracy for children Turn Democracy On (Włącz Demokrację), his autobiography Against the current (Pod prąd) and a book entitled New Chapter (Nowy rozdział) which contains his political reflections, published a few months before the launch of his political party.
Political career
Early political career (2005–2014) In 2005, Biedroń was an unsuccessful Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) candidate for the Sejm, the lower house of the Polish parliament. In the October 2011 parliamentary elections, Biedroń was elected to the Sejm as a candidate of Palikot Movement, receiving 16,919 votes in the Gdynia district. He was the first openly gay member of the Sejm. He has been a victim of homophobic aggression, having been attacked physically several times since his election.
Member of the Sejm (2011–2014) During his term as a member of the Sejm, Biedroń served as vice-president of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
In addition to his parliamentary work, Biedroń was a member of the Polish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2012 to 2015.
Mayor of Słupsk (2014–2018) Biedroń ran in the mayoral elections in Słupsk in 2014, a city of around 95,000 inhabitants located in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. He secured 57% of the vote in the second round. He thus became the first openly gay mayor ever in Poland.