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Comment by p2t2p | Hacker News Reader

I’ll take unelected EU bureaucrat over elected Trump-like something any day.

Democracy is very inconvenient, especially for those who struggle to persuade others how to live.

Good quip, but you’re of course ignoring the issue that democracies can sometimes trample minority rights. This is precisely the issue in this context, with Poland trying to pass anti-LGBTQ laws, and the EU trying to stop them.

Democracies are often very convenient for coercing minorities into living the way the majority wants them to live.

I'm not ignoring any such thing, as Churchill famously said "democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried". It's inconvenient even for those who are persuasive, but especially for those who are not and for those who are authoritarian - sets that tend to overlap, in my experience.

As to Poland, there are no publicised plans for changes to laws that directly affect gays, and they actually have many legal protections that you'll find lacking elsewhere. No same sex marriage or civil partnerships though.

If you think stripping away democracy so that Polish gays can marry is worth it then you're entitled to that view, but I'd hazard a guess that they've got long enough memories to avoid that kind of short term thinking and will carry on with the long term effort of persuasion, which is going well[1].

> Meanwhile, support for the legalisation of same-sex partnerships – which are currently not permitted in Poland – now stands at 36%, up six percentage points since 2019 and ten since 2015. Surveys by other pollsters have in recent years found a growing majority now in favour of same-sex partnerships.

[1] https://notesfrompoland.com/2021/08/06/poles-becoming-more-s...

> If you think stripping away democracy so that Polish gays can marry is worth it then you're entitled to that view.

Ah, a straw man. Please don’t do that, it’s tiresome.

I’m not a fan of “stripping away democracy” per the words you tried to put into my mouth. I am however rather clear eyed about the drawbacks of democracies in how they tend to treat minorities. If that reads as being anti democracy to you, then there is no point in continuing this conversation.

The comment I initially replied to is choosing against democracy, you continued the argument, hence, it's not a straw man but the position you are defending. If you wish to distance yourself from that initial position then be my guest, but thus far you haven't, except to imply it through ad hominem against me - please don't do that, it's tiresome.

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