THE Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Frank Ross, has written to the Mayor of Krakow asking him to clarify the Polish city’s opposition to homophobia and LGBT+ oppression. Last year Edinburgh City Council renewed its “partnership agreement” with Krakow, an arrangement dating back to 1994 in which the two cities cooperate in areas including culture, monument protection and education. However, recent surges in Polish government hostility towards LGBT+ people has caused council Depute Leader Cammy Day to call for a “serious rethink” about civic ties between the two cities. Around 100 municipalities in Poland, including that which covers Krakow, have declared themselves to be “LGBT ideology-free zones”. Also, the recently re-elected Polish President Andrzej Duda has compared being part of the LGBT+ community to being a communist and during his re-election campaign vowed to “defend children from LGBT ideology”.