Some 2,000 people paraded Saturday through the streets of Poland's capital in support of gay rights, as an opinion poll showed the deeply Catholic country largely hostile to homosexuality.Police were out in force to prevent feared attacks by extreme-right groups as a procession of floats passed through Warsaw's main avenues to the sound of dance music.
Homosexuals are generally viewed in Poland as being perverted, sick or at best sinners.
The poll by the CBOS institute published Saturday showed that 69 percent of Poles believed gays should keep silent about their sexual preferences, 37 percent disapproved of homosexual relationships and 31 percent said homosexuality should not be tolerated.
Of the 1,116 adults questioned between May 9 and 12, 76 percent were against gay marriages, and 90 percent objected to adoption of children by gay or lesbian couples.
Poland was condemned by the European Court of Human Rights after a ban on a gay pride march in Warsaw in 2005 by the then mayor, Lech Kaczynski, now the country's president.
Kaczynski, a conservative Catholic, had likewise forbidden the parade in 2004, but the 2006 and 2007 events went ahead, despite repeated calls for a ban from conservatives and far-right Catholic groups.
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