Watch: Gay Married Polish Couple Step Up with Rainbow COVID-19 Face Masks

Hatred and bigotry may dominate in Polish politics these days, but in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic it's a gay married couple who are stepping up to combat the virus - and they're doing it by handing out hundreds of free rainbow-themed face masks.

A YouTube video shows Dawid Mycek and Jakub Kwiecinski handing out the masks at various spots around the Polish port city of Gdansk, located on the Baltic Sea. Passers-by are thrilled with the brightly-colored masks, which are made of sturdy cotton and are rainbow-themed. Several ask to be certain that the masks really are free.

The closest thing to strings being attached, however, are the loops that go around the wearer's ears to secure the masks firmly in place.

It's a remarkable showing of compassion and generosity in a country that targets LGBTQ people like Dawid and Jakub with bigoted abuse. NBC News noted in a story on the couple that non-heterosexuals are accused by the country's divisive politicians of being part of a "plague." The married couple thought it only fitting to answer hatred with kindness by doing something to counter a real plague: The global scourge of the novel coronavirus.

"The situation of LGBT people in Poland is getting worse I would say day by day, we have the right-wing in power," Jakub told NBC News, adding that "the Law and Justice party... are against LGBT."

Added Jakub: "They also encourage people to attack us, to insult us."

Those attacks also come - no surprises here - from powerful figures in the Catholic church, which is highly influential in Poland.

"We've heard many times in Poland from people and from Polish bishops, and from Polish politicians that we are a plague," Jakub said.

The New York Daily News reported that the couple makes the masks themselves.

"We borrowed a sewing machine from Grandma and started sewing masks to give them away for free on the streets. And our masks are unique because it's all rainbows!" the Daily News quoted the couple as posting at Facebook.

Notes the New York Daily News:

The central European nation of 38 million citizens recognizes no same-sex unions and some gay-rights parades leading up to 2019 elections were marred by violence.

The couple says they have been subjected to no fewer than 80 death threats - a dismal backdrop of hatred against which their act of courage and compassion shines all the more brightly.

The YouTube video has racked up more than 2 million views, media sources said. Watch the video below.