Walesa goes on anti-gay tirade

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WARSAW, Poland, March 3 (UPI) -- Polish reformer and revered winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Lech Walesa said gay members of Parliament should have to sit "behind a wall."

Walesa, president of Poland from 1990 to 1995, made the comments during a television interview Friday. Polish leaders are debating whether to allow civil unions between homosexuals and Walesa was asked his thought by TVN24.

He responded, saying wouldn't vote for an openly gay MP.

"Homosexuals should sit on the last bench in the plenary hall, or even behind the wall, and not somewhere at the front," the staunchly Catholic Walesa said, adding "a minority cannot impose itself on the majority."

The website thenews.pl said the nation's first openly gay lawmaker, Robert Biedron, remained respectful of Walesa's place in Polish history having vanquished communism, but suggested Walesa's son, Jaroslaw, have a talk with his father about how things have changed in the 21st century.