Three human rights activists went on trial in Poland yesterday for putting the LGBT rainbow on an image of the Black Madonna, a revered figure in Roman Catholicism.
Elzbieta Podlesna, Anna Prus and Joanna Gzyra-Iskandar face up to two years in prison if found guilty of desecration and offending religious sentiment.
During protests in 2019, they replaced the halos in the icon of the Black Madonna and baby Jesus with the LGBT rainbow flag.
The activists said they were rallying against what they saw as the hostility of Poland s influential Catholic Church toward LGBT people.
A group of supporters with rainbow flags and banners reading The Rainbow Gives No Offense gathered outside the court.