Margot Szutowicz

Margot Szutowicz is a Polish LGBTQ activist, one of the founders of the "Stop Bzdurom" ("Bzdurom" meaning "nonsense" or "bullshit"), a radical, queer, feminist direct action group. As of late 2020, Margot has become a figurehead of Poland's LGBTQ rights movement.

According to Wprost investigation, in July 2018 Margot was involved in spray-painting the Sejm (lower chamber of the Polish parliament) and in November 2019 protested against giving an award to Roman Polański at a film festival which was taking place at the National Film School in Łódź.

Stop Bzdurom,  which she runs, is "a radical, queer collective". It was named in reaction to a proposed "Stop Paedophilia" bill that they viewed as being in large part against the LGBT community.

On 27 June 2020, a truck belonging to an anti-abortion foundation, Fundacja Pro, emblazoned with homophobic and anti-abortion slogans, equipped with loudspeakers, was confronted by a group of activists who slashed the tyres, damaged a mirror, stole the number plate and physically assaulted the driver. Margot was arrested for battery on 7 August 2020 and placed in police custody for a period of two months. Following the arrest, various groups of people protested her incarceration, claiming it was politically motivated. As a result, 48 more people were arrested in an event referred to as Polish Stonewall. She had been held in a detention facility in Płock, central Poland and was released on 28 August. Margot told the BBC that she only attempted to stop the truck driver from filming her with his mobile phone and did not assault him: "I wish I could have beat him up - but he was three or four times larger than me."

In August 2020, dozens of writers, filmmakers and actors from various countries around the world signed an open letter decrying the oppression Margot and other activists had suffered. Margot's activism has met with criticism from the vice-president of The Left's parliamentary club, Monika Pawłowska, as well as commentators generally viewed as liberals or leftists, including philosopher Jan Hartman and editor-in-chief of Newsweek Polska, Tomasz Lis. Margot was misgendered by Polish police, right-wing journalists, and right-wing politicians.

On 4 September 2020, Margot was released from imprisonment after a successful legal appeal. Following her release, she posted a photograph holding up her middle finger and holding a scrabble sign saying "Poland, you preek [sic], stop arresting my Margot". Margot, whose hunger strike in prison was suppressed by the authorities, stated she was willing to resume her hunger strike and die if it could counter Polish homophobia. On 7 September 2020, a protest in support of Margot was held in front of the martyrdom monument at Old Market square, Bydgoszcz.

In a BBC interview in September 2020, Margot explained: "I want to show my community that we no longer have to live in fear [...] For years we've been asking for minimal provisions and legislation that would protect us - if not from discrimination, then at least from physical violence." Regarding whether violence was a valid method of resistance, she answered: "People who have not lived the lives of the LGBT community in this country shouldn't judge us [...] And nobody should be surprised if we are eventually forced to take things into our own hands."

Personal life
In an interview with the Polish edition of Vogue, Margot revealed that she is currently writing her Bachelor of Arts thesis on Christian anarchism.

Margot lives with Łania Madej and is in a polyamorous relationship with Łania and a trans man named Lu. While detained, Margot went on a hunger strike and requested a New Testament, later stating that Christianity is too serious a matter to be left in Polish Catholics' hands. Margot also stated that she is a Christian.