Polish Police Nab Woman for Profaning Virgin Mary Icon With LGBTQ Rainbow

A similar incident occurred seven years ago, when a man in his 50s attempted to deface a Byzantine icon by throwing black paint at it.

Police detained a 51-year-old woman, Elzbieta Podlesna, over profaning Poland’s famed and revered Catholic icon, the Madonna of Częstochowa, after she painted an LGBTQ-rainbow halo around her and baby Jesus’ head in a set of posters. The woman was later released, local media reported.

According to the Polish penal code, offending others’ religious sentiments is a punishable crime, with authorities treating the incident as a «profanation» of a revered religious image.