Poland's conservative candidate for prime minister was quoted on Monday as saying homosexuality was "unnatural", echoing earlier statements by the leaders of his party.
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, chosen by the Law and Justice party to form a government after last week's elections, told the Polish edition of Newsweek magazine that the prime minister should be involved in the debate over gay rights.
Asked whether homosexuality should be condemned, Marcinkiewicz said: "It's unnatural. The family is natural, and the state must stand guard over the family."
During the election campaign Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski suggested banning gays from teaching children.
As mayor of Warsaw, his identical twin brother Lech drew flak from Western European rights groups for banning gay pride parades. Lech Kaczynski is running second in opinion polls ahead of an October 9 presidential election.
Gay-rights groups say the Kaczynskis have made anti-gay remarks a feature of their political appeal to less-educated, traditionalist voters in Poland -- though Marcinkiewicz struck a slightly more conciliatory note.
"I don't care if someone is a homosexual or not, and even if I found out something like that, I wouldn't judge a person differently than on their actions alone," Marcinkiewicz said.
"But if that person tries to 'infect' others with their homosexuality, then the state must intervene in this violation of freedom."
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