Community dialogue in Żyrardów: Should same-sex couples have the right to marry?

In September 2020, seven residents of Żyrardów and five visitors met for a community dialogue. Participants belonged to different generations, had different worldviews and showed varying degrees of interest in the current political events. The meeting took place in the grand hall of the Filip de Girard Linen Museum.

We started with "a difference game" - an exercise that helps the group to get to know each other, to get used to an open conversation and different opinions in the group. Later, divided into two subgroups, the participants talked about situations from the past when they themselves had experienced a difference of opinion. Together they reflected on what makes us remember a given disagreement as a positive or negative experience. At the end of the exercise, both subgroups prepared lists of factors that either encourage or prevent a frank discussion.

The participants of the community dialogue decided that they wanted to talk about the right of same-sex couples to get married. The conversation was intense, at times even confrontational. Nevertheless, the group managed to organize it in a way which allowed the participants not only to freely present their views but also to talk about the experiences on which their views were based. Some said that by naming the values that were important to them, they better understood their own emotions when confronted with views of other people.

What is a ”community dialogue”?

Community dialogues are our way of working to reduce the polarization of public opinion. We organize them in various places in Poland, and as well as - due to the ongoing pandemic - online. We invite people to a meeting, we connect strangers and create conditions conducive to candid conversations. The goal of community dialogues is not compromise, but respecting differences and finding what unites us. Along the way, we look for a new way of having a national conversation in a divided Poland.