How a Slovak priest, Russian bikers, and a Polish lobbyist fuelled anti-LGBTI hate

This is the second part of an investigation looking into how anti-LGBTI disinformation narratives in Europe show similarities and connections to Russian propaganda. You can read the first part here.

Ahead of the snap parliamentary elections in September 2023, the topic of LGBTI rights was heavily utilised in Slovakia as a political tool.

The current prime minister Robert Fico mocked opponent Michal Šimečka, head of the liberal party, by questioning whether he would "identify as a boy, a girl, or a helicopter" in a social media campaign. 

Recently in July 2024, Fico referred to LGBTI rights in a speech, stating: "These harmful and nonsensical progressive and liberal ideologies [referring to the right to same-sex marriage] are spreading like cancer."

According to opinion polls conducted by the Slovak think-tank Globsec in 2020, 2023 and 2024, only about a “third” of Slovak respondents agreed that LGBTI rights, such as the right to marriage, should be guaranteed.

This figure consistently polls far below the rest of the Visegrad Four countries.

Actors spreading anti-LGBTI and anti-gender disinfo narratives 

Among the actors spreading anti-LGBTI and anti-gender disinformation narratives is Catholic priest Marián Kuffa.

In an interview published on 23 September 2023, one week before the parliamentary elections, Kuffa stated: "gender ideology is a genocide of our [Slovak] nation" and "gender and civil unions are a scheme to decrease population."

The interview was shared over 5,500 times and garnered 250,000 views on Facebook.

Kuffa urged voters to reject liberal parties, even condemning the Christian Democratic Party (KDH) for potentially allowing liberals into the government.

In Poland, similar attempts to dehumanise the LGBTI community were made by Kaja Godek, a pro-life activist and founder of Fundacja Życie I Rodzina (Life and Family Foundation).

In August 2023, two months before the parliamentary elections, the foundation's official Facebook page commented that the LGBTI pride march in Częstochowa city "insulted, profaned, and promoted perversions." Their website further claimed: "We showed children sexually abused by paederasts."

Recently, in June, Godek stated on social media: "LGBTI people need psychiatric help."

Political Links

Kuffa, known for his homophobic rhetoric, has family ties to Slovakian politics. His brother Stefan Kuffa and nephew Filip Kuffa, who were MPs in 2020 for the far-right ĽSNS party, contested for the right-wing and pro-Russian Slovak National Party (SNS) in 2023 and were appointed as state secretaries at the environment ministry.

Kuffa’s comments are an example of hateful disinformation, according to Roman Samotny, an activist and founder of Tepláreň, an LGBTI bar in Bratislava, outside of which two people were killed in October 2022.

“By employing sophisticated manipulation tactics, Kuffa claims if LGBTI individuals are given equal rights, the nation or humanity will die because of it,” Samotny said.

“Considering Kuffa’s close political ties with the far-right, this is quite an alarming statement that may influence voters to think of LGBTI as enemies of society," he said.

Similarly, Godek has strong political ties with Konfederacja, a far-right political party in Poland. In 2019, she was placed at the top of Konfederacja's candidate list for the European Parliament elections, aligning the party with anti-LGBTI sentiments.

Godek is known for her advocacy for the anti-LGBTI agenda, including stating a disinformation narrative that: “Geje chcą adoptować dzieci, bo chcą je molestować i gwałcić” (which means "gays want to adopt children because they want to molest and rape them") in May 2019. 

“These disinformation narratives paint a distorted picture of LGBTI describing them as outsiders manipulating local events,” said Monika Tichy, founder of Lambda Polska, a group supporting trans and queer across Poland.

Tichy added: “Godek, who is known for her political influence, accused queer activists of wanting to give dreadful gays and lesbians access to children so that they can abuse and rape them. These accusations are absolute lies."

Narratives similar to Russian propaganda

In September 2023, false claims about gender ideology and same-sex civil unions leading to population genocide emerged in Slovakia, mirroring earlier events in Russia.

In Russia, State Duma senator Irina Filatova declared in May 2023: "Gender ideology should be recognized as extremism! There are only two sexes, and you are what you were born as!".

Later that year, Russia's narrative of "gender ideology" unified the population against perceived Western threats.

This narrative was adopted by Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church, who stated in 2024: "Gender ideology destroys the traditional institution of the family." 

In 2023, false narratives about sex education by LGBTI individuals with an attempt to adopt children and molest them emerged in Poland.

Earlier in the same year, in Russia, the pro-government media outlet Tsargrad released a video claiming sex education lessons are being imposed and conducted by transgender individuals.

Also, the narrative suggesting gay couples seek to adopt children for predatory purposes surfaced in Russia in 2020 in a campaign video, which was later banned by YouTube on the grounds of violating its policies regarding hate speech.

Kremlin operatives  

Kuffa was interviewed by Matúš Alexa, founder of the pro-Russian motorcycle group, Brat za Brata (Brother for Brother).

Formally a civic association with an online shop selling merchandise with the letter “Z” and Russian slogans, the group promotes the idea of traditional family on its social media where it also shares content from the Russian embassy and other Russian sources en masse.

Alexa often posts photos with the Russian ambassador and travels to Russia to attend cultural events, participate in the meetings with officials such as SVR’s head Sergey Narishkin, or observe elections in the occupied Crimea.

Apart from Kuffa, Alexa also promoted other SNS members, such as Rudolf Huliak or Ivan Ševčík, on the motorcycle group channels two days before the elections where they made remarks about how liberals intended to “change sex in small children”. 

“Given that Brat za Brata has been linked to information operations run by the Russian embassy, it is a purposeful effort by a Russian influence agent in Slovakia,” said Victor Breiner, independent hybrid threats analyst.

Breiner added: “Part of Russia's strategy in the EU is to cultivate a right-wing radical electorate which will then vote for parties that represent Russia's foreign policy interests. For this purpose, sexual minority rights are a welcome social phenomenon they can exploit to polarise society.”

In Poland, Konfederacja has proven ties with Russia.

Grzegorz Braun, one of the founders of Konfederacja, travelled to Russia in 2018 at the invitation and expense of a Kremlin-linked foundation.

Braun also met a Russian journalist Leonid Swiridow, who was expelled from Poland in 2015 at the request of Polish Security Services.

State-sponsored extremism 

According to public funds contracts, Kuffa receives funding from the Slovak state and the Presov region to run a charity centre called the Institute of Christ the Great in Žákovce, eastern Slovakia.

Over the past 12 months, the institute has received over 1.3 million Euros through state contracts to run its dedicated social care centre, women’s shelter, senior home, and homeless shelter. 

Godek’s Foundation appeals for donations via quick contributions on its website but does not publish any financial information.

The recent EU parliamentary elections held in June 2024 witnessed a rise in anti-LGBTI statements across Europe, according to a report by the advocacy group ILGA-Europe.

Katrin Hugendubel, advocacy director of the group, said: “It is important to call out the actors spreading these disinformation narratives and reveal their playbook acts because these narratives feed into the anti-LGBTI sentiment. We need collective action to stop the spread of these lies.”

This investigation was supported by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) grant for Disarming Disinformation 2024 programme.