Activists and politicians are planning to march through Warsaw today (Saturday) as a show of solidarity for homosexuals throughout Eastern Europe.  365gay.com reports that gays are under increasing pressure from the left and right in Poland where communists and Catholics alike are exerting tremendous societal pressure to suppress homosexual activism.

Gay rights groups say they've suffered even more of a setback since the election victory last fall of Law and Justice, a conservative party whose leaders have openly denounced homosexuality. A new coalition formed last month has also raised concerns because it includes a right-wing party, League of Polish Families, with a youth wing that has attacked gay pride parades in Poland in recent years.

The group, All-Polish Youth, said Thursday it was canceling plans to rally this Saturday in hopes of preventing a "physical confrontation with leftist fundamentalists."

A member of the League, Wojciech Wierzejski, also caused a stir in past weeks for asking the interior and justice ministers to investigate gay rights groups to determine whether pedophiles and drug dealers were financing them.

In April, dozens of people were injured when youth from the League of Polish Families attacked a peaceful parade. 

Human rights monitors indicate that this latest in a series of clashes between homosexuals and those who would sanction discrimination is a reflection of a larger clash between the East and West.

Organizers expect a large showing of support from activists and politicians throughout Europe.

Saturday's march is expected to draw supporters from throughout Europe, including lawmakers from Germany and Sweden who are mobilizing in reaction to recent violence against gays in the region. A week earlier in Bucharest, Romania, passers-by threw plastic bottles and shouted anti-gay slogans at a gay rights demonstration.

During a march in Moscow on May 27, gay rights activists were pummeled by right-wing protesters and detained by police when they rallied in defiance of a city ban. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said gay parades "may be acceptable for some kind of progressive, in some sense, countries in the West, but it is absolutely unacceptable for Moscow, for Russia."

Several politicians from throughout Europe are also mobilizing to support gay rights. Members of Germany's Greens party plan to travel to Warsaw to take part in the march, including Volker Beck, who was beaten by nationalist youths during the Moscow rally, as well as Renate Kuenast and Claudia Roth.

The Campaign Against Homophobia said lawmakers from Sweden, France and the Netherlands would also attend in a sign of solidarity.

"This isn't just about gays and lesbians anymore," Biedron, the leader, said in an interview. "This march will be a big demonstration against fundamentalism and the violation of human rights."