I recently met Brendan Fay at a lively St. Patrick's Day party hosted by the Danny Dromm campaign for City Council...Brendan was a most pleasant fellow and honestly reminded me of a mischievous little leprechaun...lolBrendan Fay is originally from Ireland, a well known activist, filmmaker and advocate for justice and equality. He holds BA and MA degrees in theology from St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, Ireland and St. John's University in New York. He is founder and co-chair of New York's inclusive St. Patrick's Parade. Brendan is a regular presenter on history, spirituality and justice at churches, community groups, rallies and retreats. He has been a member of many panels and theology forums. He directed "Silence to Speech" a documentary series on being Irish and Gay in America. He directed "A Month's Mind" and was co-producer of "Saint of 9/11" both documentaries about Fr. Mychal Judge, the FDNY Franciscan chaplain who died in the WTC tragedy on September 11th, 2001. Currently, he is editing an anthology entitled "Same Sex Marriage: Catholic Conversions". Brendan has appeared on PBS, RTE, CNN, CBS, WOR, 1010 WINS, WBAI, BBC and NBC. He has been profiled in the NY Times, Newsday, Irish Voice, National Catholic Reporter and People magazine.
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Brendan Fay, a well-known gay activist in New York, has found himself, however improbably, a symbol in a political struggle in Poland over equal rights for gay men and lesbians that could affect the nation’s integration into the European Union and the balance of political power in Warsaw.
Emily Kingvisser/Associated PressBrendan Fay, left, and Dr. Thomas A. Moulton in 2003.
On Monday, President Lech Kaczynski delivered a nationally televised address, warning Poles that the nation’s autonomy could be threatened if Poland ratifies the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty. The president’s conservative Law and Justice Party believes that ratification will lead to the incorporation into Polish law of the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
As part of his speech, Mr. Kaczynski displayed a wedding photograph of Mr. Fay and his partner, Dr. Thomas A. Moulton, and showed a video clip of their 2003 wedding in Canada. The Polish president also showed a map of pre-World War II Poland, linking his anti-gay oratory to historic Polish anxieties about German encroachment.
Mr. Fay, 49, a producer of documentary videos, and Dr. Moulton, 50, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist, have been stunned about being caught up in the controversy. The couple celebrated their partnership with a Roman Catholic priest at an Episcopal church in Brooklyn in May 2003.
They were married two months later in Toronto, after Ontario legalized gay marriage. The two men, who live in Astoria, Queens, have been outspoken advocates for marriage rights for gay men and lesbians; images of the couple and their wedding have been widely disseminated on the Internet.
Mr. Fay, who was born in Ireland, has never been to Poland. In New York, he is probably best known as a leader of an effort to allow gay and lesbian groups to march in the official St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Mr. Fay said he first learned of Mr. Kaczynski’s speech on Tuesday morning, when he received a call from a Polish radio station. A flood of media inquiries, from as far away as Ireland and Canada, have poured in since then.
Later on Tuesday, Mr. Fay sent a letter to Krzysztof W. Kasprzyk, Poland’s consul general in New York. Mr. Fay shared what he wrote: “We are frustrated to hear that images from such a joyous day are used to spread intolerance. I request a meeting to discuss the matter of civil rights raised by the Polish political leader’s remarks and the uses/misuse of our wedding photographs.” It continued: “We would never have agreed to permit our photographs as part of a homophobic campaign.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Kasprzyk called Mr. Fay, and they agreed to meet next week.
Czeslaw Karkowski, the editor in chief of Nowy Dziennik, which is based in Manhattan and is one of the leading Polish newspapers in the United States, said on Wednesday that the speech, and Mr. Fay’s role in it, have been the subject of discussion in Poland.
Last October, voters ousted the president’s identical twin, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and his right-leaning party in parliamentary elections. Lech Kaczynski remained president, with the power to veto legislation, but his political status was diminished.
Mr. Karkowski said he did not know why President Kaczynski’s staff members used Mr. Fay’s image. “Probably they were just looking for a useful picture,” Mr. Karkowski said, “a visible sign of what he and his followers are against and what, supposedly, his political opponents are for.”
Ewa Zadworna, a spokeswoman at the Polish Consulate in Manhattan, said the consulate did not have any further comment on the matter. “We are in contact with Mr. Fay,” Ms. Zadworna said.
