Poland

[Rick]

Poland: 13,000 People March in Warsaw Pride

 

Thousands of people marched and danced down the streets of central Warsaw on Saturday, 3 June 2017, to show their support for gay rights, calling for stronger defiance of discrimination and greater acceptance for same-sex unions and marriages. The 17th annual "Equality Parade" took place with a deeply conservative government ruling Poland, one that opposes marriage rights or civil unions for same-sex couples.

 

Some 40 foreign embassies, including those of France and the United States, expressed their support for the parade. Police estimated that about 13,000 people took part in the event, which is meant as a demonstration of tolerance not only for gays and lesbians, but also for people with disabilities and other marginalized groups. Organizers said 50,000 took part, with participants carrying balloons and the rainbow flags that are the symbol of LGBT rights.

 

At one point, several far-right nationalists tried to block the parade but were removed by police.

 

Rick

 

 

 

 

 

[Rick]

Poland: A Gay President?

Poland's existence under an anti-LGBT+ administration could be drawing to a close, as an openly gay presidential candidate offers up a fervent fight for leadership. Current polls indicate that one in four Poles intend to vote for the left-wing candidate, Robert Biedroń, who entered his political career as an LGBT+ activist. Biedroń, who is the mayor of Slupsk, a town with a population of 98,757 in northern Poland, is considered a strong contender to current President Andrzej Duda. Although the election is not set to take place until 2020, it means that the politician has a generous amount of time on his side to win nationwide support.

Competing against incumbent President Duda, who secured 33.5 percent of the vote in the poll, and the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, who received 33 percent approval, Biedroń still has a battle on his hands. But the prospect of electing a gay atheist is a dramatic turn in the country.

At present, the right-wing Law and Justice party, led by President Duda, has a staunch anti-LGBT voting record. The politician blocked same-sex marriage legislation in 2017, stating that marriage between a man and a woman was “clearly and expressly regulated in the Constitution.” He also vetoed the Gender Accordance Act, which would have allowed trans people to legally change their gender.

Rick

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Rick

[Rick]

Poland: Supreme Court Rules Against Man Who Refused to Serve LGBT Group

Warsaw — On Thursday, 14 June 2018, Poland's Supreme Court ruled against a print shop employee who refused to print banners for an LGBT business group because he did not want to "promote" the gay rights movement. The country's top court said it was upholding the ruling of the lower court, that is, of the Regional Court in Lodz which had ruled that the principle of equality before the law meant that the printer did not have the right to withhold services from the LGBT Business Forum.

The case was brought to the Supreme Court by Zbigniew Ziobro, the justice minister and attorney-general, who slammed Thursday's ruling as "against freedom." The Campaign Against Homophobia, which gave legal support to the LGBT Business Forum, welcomed the ruling.

A new law regulating the Supreme Court will take effect on 3 July 2018 and it's not clear if the court will be as free in the future to make rulings against positions supported by the government.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: Lesbian Couple Wins the Right to Register Their Child as Having Two Mothers

A lesbian couple has won the right to register their child in Poland, in an unprecedented ruling for the country. The decision, handed down today, 11 October 2018, by the country’s Supreme Administrative Court, ends a three-year legal battle started by a Polish woman who tried to get her London-born son a Polish birth certificate, according to Reuters.

She and her female partner were registered as the child's parents in Britain, but Polish administrative officials rejected her attempts to do the same in Poland. Now, after having gone to the highest administrative court in the land, the couple has overturned that decision.

This was the second court ruling this year which has raised hopes for campaigners in Poland, after the Supreme Court also ruled against a businessman who refused to print posters for an LGBT business because he did not want to “promote” gay rights.

Same-sex partners in Poland are not allowed to have children, with adoption, surrogacy, and IVF routes all being blocked by regressive laws. Poland is also one of several in the EU which has not legalized same-sex marriage nor civil unions for gay couples.

Rick

 

Edited October 12, 2018 by Rick

[Rick]

Poland: Court of Appeal Overturns Ban on Gay Pride March

The Polish city of Lublin held its first-ever Pride parade on 13 October 2018, despite counter-protestors’ best efforts to halt the proceedings. According to "Gay Star News" (via local police), it is estimated that around 1500 people marched for equality on Saturday. In comparison, it has been reported that about 200 individuals showed up to disrupt the celebration by throwing bottles, bricks, and stones at attendees.

Earlier in the week, Mayor Krzysztof Żuk announced that the parade had been banned due to security concerns. It is believed that the homophobic regional governor Przemysław Czarnek, who is a member of the anti-LGBTI Law & Justice Party, heavily influenced the decision. Around the same time, he claimed that the march would promote “pedophilia” and “sexual behavior [that is] incompatible with nature.”

Addressing the ban, the President of the European Pride Organisers Association, Kristine Garina, said: “It is deeply depressing that we keep having to have the same conversations about Poland. Opposition to equality marches in Poland has found its way into European case law as to the freedom of assembly, and you would think that eight years after Warsaw hosted EuroPride, attitudes would be changing."

Poland’s Court of Appeal overruled the ban on Friday, 12 October 2018, due to said freedom of assembly laws, and the event went ahead as planned the following day.

Lublin is south-east of Warsaw, toward the border with Ukraine.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: New Liberal, Pro-Marriage-Equality Political Party Launched

Polish politician Robert Biedron launched a new party on Sunday, 3 February 2019, called Spring (Wlosna). He promised to phase out coal power, end state subsidies for the church, and to legalize both abortion and same-sex marriage. He also promised to boost welfare spending in a program dubbed "populist" by his opponents. "I will be prime minister," Biedron told supporters at a rally in Warsaw ahead of elections this autumn.

 

Openly Gay Politician Launches Progressive, Pro-EU Political Party

Poland’s first openly gay politician has launched a new progressive, pro-European Union political party called Spring. Robert Biedron, the former mayor of the town of Slupsk, hopes to challenge the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party, as the country prepares for both domestic and European elections this year.

The 42-year-old former mayor has vowed to introduce the recognition of gay partnerships, equal pay for women, and better access to abortion and reproductive rights, as well as universal old-age pension. He also promised to shift politics away from the church, which holds significant influence over the deeply Catholic country.

Biedron also pledged to unite the country after the public murder of the liberal mayor of Gdansk, Pawel Adamowicz, in January, which raised questions over rising hate speech. The Spring party will run in May elections to the European Parliament and in Poland’s general election later this year.

Biedron also launched Poland’s Campaign Against Homophobia, and in 2011 became the first openly gay MP for the Gdynia-Slupsk constituency.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: Court Rules in Favor of Possibility of Same-Sex Marriage

In Poland, on 11 February 2019, a local court in Warsaw has ruled that the Polish constitution does not ban same-sex marriage; instead, the court leaves the matter up to the legislature to amend the requisite laws in order to recognize it.

The case concerns a gay Polish same-sex couple, Kuba and Dawid, who were legally married in Portugal in 2017 and who, ever since, have been seeking recognition of their Portuguese marriage in Poland.

Note: Portugal is one of a handful of EU nations who will marry same-sex foreign couples. So too will Spain, Belgium, and Ireland. In the others, at least one of the partners in a prospective marriage must be a local citizen.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: One Step Closer to Banning "Conversion Therapy"

Politicians in Poland have submitted a draft bill to the Parliament which bans the use of gay "conversion therapy." Lawmakers from the liberal Nowoczesna party drafted the bill with the Campaign Against Homophobia.

"Conversion therapy," which can include hypnosis and electric shocks, is based on the mistaken belief that being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender is a mental illness that can be cured. It has been widely discredited by medical experts for risking causing emotional and psychological damage.

Campaign Against Homophobia’s Mirosława Makuchowska announced the proposed bill, saying: “Forcefully persuading somebody that if they try hard enough, they will be able to change their sexual orientation is an act of violence.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: Warsaw Mayor Signs LGBT Rights Declaration

On 18 February 2019, Rafał Trzaskowski, the mayor of Poland’s capital city, Warsaw, signed a declaration to protect LGBT rights, the first ever to be signed in eastern Europe, and the first to officially recognize LGBT rights in Poland.

The declaration signed by Trzaskowski is said to guarantee the basic needs of Warsaw’s LGBT community, and to enable local administrations to provide what the Polish government has refused to put into practice. The declaration includes the promise of an LGBT hostel and community center, plus a local crisis intervention system, and aims to provide access to anti-discrimination and sex education at city schools.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: Court Orders Right-Wing Newspaper Sold with "LGBT-Free Zone" Stickers Pulled from Stores

The District Court in Warsaw ordered the publisher of "Gazeta Polska" to withdraw from the distribution of stickers demonstrating opposition to the LGBT ideology. The editor-in-chief of "Gazeta Polska," Tomasz Sakiewicz, was surprised by this decision.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland Is Intervening to Stop UK Gay Couple from Adopting

The Polish government announced that it will intervene to prevent a child from being adopted by a gay couple in the UK. Deputy Minister of Justice Michał Wójcik said that the Polish government will try to prevent the British government from allowing a boy to be adopted by a same-sex couple. “We will take all measures to make sure this child, if it must be adopted, is adopted by a woman and a man,” Wójcik said.

The case involves a boy named Harry. His mother, Aneta Zrobczyńska, is from Poland and lives in the UK. She lost custody of Harry when she left him in the care of his 13-year-old sister and he badly burned himself. Zrobczyńska, who suffers from depression and epilepsy, later found out from a social worker that Harry was going to be adopted by a same-sex couple. “I do not want to agree to this,” she told "Wirtualna Polska." “I would prefer him to be brought up by my mother and dad, and not by two fathers.”

Harry’s father, who is a UK citizen, agreed to the adoption, but Zrobczyńska tried to stop it by going to the Polish consulate for help. Consul Paweł Nowakwas wrote her back, saying she must “respect the laws of the country where you have lived for several years.” Adoption by same-sex couples is legal in the UK.

But her case got significant attention in right-wing Polish media. The Polish government does not recognize same-sex relationships and same-sex couples are not allowed to adopt.

“Starting tomorrow we will be taking action,” Deputy Minister Wójcik told dziennik.pl, referring to Harry’s case. “If this is true, then the child is also a Polish citizen, so we will take all measures to make sure this child, if it must be adopted, is adopted by a woman and a man.” Wójcik added that he would prefer the child be raised by a Polish family.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: Presidential Election Goes to Run-Off

In Poland, the Presidential election will be going into a second-round run-off, scheduled for 12 July 2020, between the homophobic incumbent, Andrzej Duda, and the pro-LGBT, liberal mayor of Warsaw, Rafal Trzaskowski.

Duda fell short of the 50% he needed in order to win without a second round of voting. He received 43.7% of the vote with 99.78% of all ballots counted, while Trzaskowski was in second place with 30.3%.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/28/pol...

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: Two Courts Strike Down "LGBT-Free Zones" as Unconstitutional

On 14-15 July 2020, Polish courts have annulled two of the “zones free from LGBT ideology” that have been declared by many local authorities around Poland. Judges found that they violate the constitution, which bans discrimination and requires equal treatment. The office of Poland’s commissioner for human rights, Adam Bodnar, which filed the complaints, hailed the rulings as unprecedented.

On 14 July 2020, the provincial administrative court in Gliwice ruled on such a resolution passed by the council in Istebna, southwestern Poland. Bodnar’s office had lodged a complaint against it, arguing that it violated various articles of Poland’s constitution. The court found that the phrase “LGBT ideology” in fact refers to LGBT people and has a discriminatory effect on them by excluding them from the community due to their sexual preferences and gender identity, reports Polsat News.

On 15 July 2020, Anna Błaszczak-Banasiak, from Bodnar’s office, posted an image of a new ruling by the provincial administrative court in Radom. This annulled a resolution against “LGBT ideology” adopted in Klwów, central Poland, she said. Details of this ruling are not yet available.

Meanwhile, there are growing signals that the European Union could seek to restrict funding for regions in Poland that have adopted anti-LGBT resolutions. Today, 15 July 2020, "Rzeczpospolita" reported that there are proposals on the table to make EU funds conditional on compliance not only with the rule of law, but also with respect for minority rights. This, writes the Polish newspaper, could be used to cut off money to places in Poland that have issued anti-LGBT resolutions.

Kraśnik, another Polish town that passed the resolution, now wants to revoke it, with the head of the council, Dorota Posyniak, saying that “if it were to have an impact on the funds we were hoping to invest in developing the city, it would make our functioning very difficult.”
https://notesfrompoland.com/2020/07/15/polish-cou...

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: EU Rejects Funding to 6 Cities with "LGBT-Free Zones"

The European Union has rejected grants under a twinning program to six Polish cities because of their attitude to the LGBTQ community. The announcement was confirmed on Twitter by the EU's Equality Commissioner, Helena Dalli.

"EU values and fundamental rights must be respected by member states and public authorities," Helena Dalli said on Tuesday, 28 July 2020. “This is why six town twinning applications involving Polish authorities that adopted ‘LGBTI-free zones’ or ‘family rights’ resolutions were rejected." The 6 cities were not specifically named.

The call for proposals for the twinning program stipulate that they must be accessible to all European citizens without any form of discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age, or sexual orientation," a Commission spokesman told AFP News Agency today, 29 July. Those applications that were rejected were done so on the basis of not being in line with the program's objectives of "equal access and non-discrimination."

In 2019, 80 municipalities in Poland declared themselves "free of LGBTQ ideology," supported by local politicians associated with the ruling Conservative Law and Justice party. At the time, the European Parliament condemned the move from Poland and called for increased monitoring of the use of EU funds.
https://www.euronews.com/2020/07/29/eu-funding-wi...

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: The Polish "Stonewall," Protesters Decry Government’s Anti-LGBT Attitudes

Today, 8 August 2020, demonstrators turned out in Warsaw and other Polish cities to protest against the anti-LGBT attitudes promoted by the government, as well as by the detention of pro-LGBT protesters. “You will not lock all of us up!” people chanted at a protest in Warsaw that drew thousands of mostly young people. Most wore masks for the coronavirus pandemic. Similar protests took place in Krakow, Lublin, Wroclaw, and other places.

The protests came a day after LGBT rights supporters in Warsaw scuffled with police who arrested a transgender activist, Malgorzata Szutowicz, known best as “Margot.” Police said they detained 48 people, while activists said police used rough tactics against them. “The police were aggressively pushing the protesters out of the way, knocking people to the ground and holding them down with their boots,” said the Campaign Against Homophobia, a Warsaw-based group.

The protests come amid an intensifying standoff in Poland between the LGBT rights movement and the conservative government, which has declared it an alien, dangerous “ideology.” President Andrzej Duda, who was sworn in for a second term Thursday, 6 August, won re-election on a strong anti-LGBT platform, and social tensions have been rising.

Some critics accuse the government of stoking tensions in order to channel attention and anger away from what they say are plans to further erode the rule of law under the populist governing party. Last week, the Justice Ministry said it is preparing legislation that would require non-governmental groups to declare any foreign funding sources, echoing laws passed in Russia and Hungary that critics say are meant to hamstring groups critical of authorities.

Szutowicz was put in pre-trial detention for two months for acts of civil disobedience, including using a knife to cut the tires of a van that drives around broadcasting anti-LGBT messages, including a claim that “homosexuals are preparing society to accept pedophilia.” Police allege she also used violence against the driver of the van, shaking and pushing him. She belongs to a group called Stop Bzdurom (Stop the Nonsense), which has been putting rainbow flags and anarchist symbols on Warsaw statues, including one of Jesus, infuriating the conservative government.
https://apnews.com/05c628a726ecbb83c106161ce26a9c...

This is a big news story. Here is what others have to say:
• Reuters: https://reuters.com/article/us-poland-lgbt-idUSKC...
• ILGA-Europe: https://ilga-europe.org/resources/news/latest-new...
• Human Rights Watch: https://hrw.org/news/2020/08/0

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: Its So-Called "LGBT-Free" Zones

This map of Poland showing the "LGBT-free" zones is both intriguing and pathetic because approximately 50% of Poland that "never moved" has proclaimed such.   https://i.redd.it/irpyqz0e47k51.jpg

As Poland is currently constituted, it is comprised of 16 provinces. The 4 provinces in the south-east quadrant have all proclaimed themselves to be "LGBT-free" at the provincial level, in addition to many duplicating county-wide and municipal declarations throughout the same southeast region.

The remaining 12 provinces have not done so. However, in 4 of them, running in a stripe from south-central to northeast, approximately 9 counties and an assortment of additional municipalities have also issued such "LGBT-free" declarations.

That leaves just 8 provinces, all in western Poland, to be free from having had these restrictive declarations imposed upon them by pandering political authorities foolishly proclaiming themselves and their regions to be "LGBT-free" zones.

But Poland has "moved." Prior to WWII (and without delving directly into the horror show of Hitler, the Holocaust, and WWII itself), 6 of those same 8 provinces in western Poland were in Germany. After WWII, on the other side of the country, in the east, Poland lost about twice as much territory to the Soviet Union (now re-constituted as part of independent Lithuania, Belarus, or Ukraine), as to what it gained from Germany in the west at the same time.

Thus, from the time Poland itself was re-constituted as an independent nation in the aftermath of WWI, only 10 of Poland's 16 provinces have been in Poland throughout that time interval. And of those, 4 have proclaimed themselves to be "LGBT-free" zones, while assorted counties and municipalities in 4 more have done the same. So, here they are, blatantly discriminating, despite all the other garbage, from Hitler to the Holocaust, to two world wars and a post-war Soviet occupation, that has befallen Poland in the last century, while not too much of Poland even remained in Poland.

Instead, these people should be counting themselves as among the lucky ones, first because they and their immediate ancestors survived, rather than be exterminated and/or killed in either war, and second, because they were not displaced, like millions of others in the immediate vicinity. But, no. Instead, they still need to blame some one else, to be cast out and expended as the "other." And for that, they are truly pathetic.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: Highway Entrance Sign to City of  Przemyśl Declares It to Be "LGBT-Free Zone"

Przemyśl is actually a fairly large city of 67,000 very near the border with Ukraine in what today constitutes the most southeastern province of Poland. It is the second-oldest city in southern Poland, and over the centuries has been subject to foreign rule at various times by Austria, Russia, and/or Germany. It once boasted one of the largest Jewish communities in all of Poland. In the 1910 census, while still part of Austria, the population of Przemyśl was counted at 54,000 inhabitants, with Polish Roman Catholics accounting for 46.8%, Jews for 29.7%, Ruthenian/Ukrainian Greek Catholics for 22.2%, and "others," mostly German-speakers, at 1.3%.

Lest anyone forget, here is the history of the Jewish community of Przemyśl, since there really are no survivors still resident there, as has been recorded in the Yivo Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe:
https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Przemys...

The hatred and scapegoating in this part of Poland never seems to come to an end, all while they themselves are frequently being shuffled around and brutalized by vengeful, occupying neighbors, be it Austria, Russia, or Germany. During WWII alone, the push-and-shove between Stalin and Hitler completely wrecked this entire area.

In retrospect, the Jews who were deported to Russia in the early part of WWII were the "lucky" ones, as those who were later rounded up by the Germans were all killed, most sent to Auschwitz or Belzec. I have a friend whose (young, idealistic, socialist) parents were deported to Russia (to Siberia) from this part of Poland in early 1941 and who, somehow, managed to survive,-- or said friend probably would not have been born, much less still be alive. An unknown number of Jews from southeastern Poland also managed to escape by smuggling themselves further southward into Romania (at that time in history, the two nations shared a common border), from which, after the war, they then emigrated on to other parts of the world.

The Ruthenian Greek Catholics are gone, too, expelled to Ukraine, many now resident in Lwow (which was part of Poland between WWI and WWII, and is now known as Lviv) and other ex-Polish cities in western Ukraine, in "exchange" for Polish Roman Catholics similarly expelled from the same areas of western Ukraine.

Rick

 

Edited September 7, 2020 by Rick

[Rick]

Poland: Three More Provinces Rescind Motions Pertaining to "LGBT-Free Zones"

Three more regional councils in Poland have repealed their motions that had previously declared their regions to be “LGBT-free zones.” The shift comes after the European Union had threatened to withdraw funding to the provinces that had passed such motions in recent years, Reuters reported.

Quoting the Polish state news agency, the southeastern provinces of Malopolskie, Lubelskie, and Podkarpackie have now all voted to rescind their motions pertaining to their supposed claim to be "LBGT-Free Zones." A fourth province, Swietokrzyskie, did so last week.

In 2019, with the support of the right-wing Law and Justice Party and the Catholic church, around 100 municipal bodies in Poland were able to pass such motions. Now, however, the EU says that they are a violation of EU law, and wrote to five regional councils earlier this month, calling on them to reverse their motions if they still wanted to receive any EU funding.
https://www.advocate.com/world/2021/9/29/3-polish...

Together, the 4 named provinces constitute the southeastern quadrant of Poland abutting Slovakia and Ukraine.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: A Warsaw Symbol Is Illuminated in Rainbow Colors

Per Enrique Tena (TV reporter from Valencia, Spain, in Warsaw):

El 8 de enero 2022, durante un par de minutos, el Palacio de Cultura de Varsovia, símbolo del comunismo, se ha iluminado con la bandera LGTBI, una imagen que NO representa este país. Aún falta mucho por hacer. Por cierto, pronto.
https://twitter.com/EnriqueTenaTV/status/14799382...

On 8 January 2022, for a short interval, the Warsaw Palace of Culture, the symbol of communism, has been illuminated with the LGTBI colors, an image that does NOT represent this country. It still needs much work to be done. For certain, soon.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: Administrative Court Annuls Two More "LGBT-Free" Zones

A number of authorities have scrapped their “LGBT-free” zones after being threatened with a loss of EU funding, with seven more being voided by the courts following legal challenges. On 9 May 2022, two more were dissolved by court order, the 8th and 9th to thus be struck down and annulled.

The Lublin Regional Assembly passed a resolution in April 2019 declaring that LGBTQ rights aim to “annihilate” the “values shaped by the Catholic Church.” To stop this from happening, the province pledged to stand up against “homo propaganda.” In the same month, Ryki County, a district within Lublin Province, passed a resolution voting to protect “children, young people, families, and Polish schools” from an apparent wave of “homo terror” being unleashed by “left-liberal groups."

The Provincial Administrative Court in Lublin found that both resolutions were “adopted without legal basis and in gross violation of the law,” after a legal challenge against them was mounted by the Polish Ombudsman.
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/05/11/poland-lgbt...

Lublin Province (Województwo Lubelskie), one of 16 provinces, is located in southeastern Poland abutting both Belarus and Ukraine.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: Appeals Court Rules that Four "LGBT-Free Zones" Must Be Abolished

On Tuesday, 28 June 2022, a Polish appeals court ruled that so-called "LGBT-free zones" must be scrapped in four municipalities, a verdict welcomed by activists as a victory for human rights and democracy. In 2019, numerous local authorities in Poland passed resolutions declaring themselves free of "LGBT ideology," part of a conflict in the predominantly Catholic country between liberals and religious conservatives, who see the struggle for gay rights as a threat to traditional values.

After a legal challenge from Poland's Human Rights Ombudsman, lower courts ruled that nine such resolutions must be scrapped. The public prosecutor's office, the ultra-conservative think-tank Ordo Iuris, and the municipalities involved then appealed against these verdicts. In the first four cases, the appeals have just been dismissed.

"Today's decision... is a great victory for democracy, human rights and respect for people," Poland's Campaign Against Homophobia wrote in a social media post.
      https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/polish-court...

 

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: Highest Court Rules that Polish Constitution Does Not Bar Marriage Equality

On 3 November 2022, the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland issued a ruling stating that same-sex marriages of Polish citizens legally married in other countries were not expressly forbidden under the Polish Constitution.

"Article 18 of the Constitution cannot in itself constitute an obstacle to transcribing a foreign marriage certificate if the institution of marriage as a union of persons of the same sex were to be provided for in the domestic (Polish) legal order,” the court ruled. “The current provision in the Constitution does not prohibit the statutory regulation of same-sex unions,” the court stated, adding that it was simply the case that “at present, the Polish legislature has not decided to introduce such solutions” into Polish law.

The lawsuit had been brought by Jakub Kwieciński and Dawid Mycek, a gay couple who are popular vloggers and social media celebrities who had legally married in Portugal. The case was litigated in the lower courts after the governor of the Polish province of Mazovia refused to acknowledge that their marriage was legal.
https://www.losangelesblade.com/2022/11/04/poland...

Per LGBTIQ:

El más alto tribunal de Polonia dictamina que la Constitución del país no prohíbe el matrimonio entre personas del mismo sexo.
https://twitter.com/LGTBNews/status/1588803304867...

The highest court in Poland rules that the national Constitution does not prohibit marriage between persons of the same sex.

Per LGBT Marriage News:

In effect, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled that the Constitution does not ban marriage equality, but then denied recognition of a foreign same-sex marriage until Parliament amends Polish law.

Note that 4 days earlier, the court in neighboring Slovakia recognized a foreign same-sex marriage from Argentina for purposes of immigration/residency, and did so without the need for Parliament to make any changes in current Slovak law.

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: Courts Refuse to Recognize Same-Sex Overseas Marriage; Case to Go to ECHR

A Polish same-sex couple has lost their long-running effort to have their overseas marriage recognized by Poland’s legal system. They have now pledged to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg.

Agata Kowalska, a journalist, and Emilia Barabasz, a lawyer, married in Germany in 2018. When they returned to Poland, they sought to register their marriage certificate in the Polish civil registry.

However, the registry office refused, on the basis that same-sex marriage is not recognized in Poland. The couple appealed the decision but saw their case rejected, first by the governor of Masovia Province, a government appointee, and then by the provincial administrative court in Warsaw.

Now, in mid-December 2022, they saw their final domestic route of appeal closed, after the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) decided to uphold the previous decisions to reject the registration of their marriage.

In its justification for the ruling, the NSA pointed to the “unambiguous” content of Article 18 of Poland’s constitution. That article states that: “Marriage as a union between a man and a woman…[is] under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland.”

At the same time, however, the court found that Article 18 does not prevent parliament from introducing the institution of same-sex civil partnerships in the future. A similar ruling was recently issued by the NSA when it rejected a bid by another same-sex couple to have their foreign marriage recognized.

In the instant case, the pair now say that they will take their case to Strasbourg, as they believe their right to respect for private and family life – which is protected under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights – has been violated.

For the last 3 years running, Poland has been ranked as the worst country in the EU for LGBT people by ILGA-Europe, a Brussels-based NGO. As well as being unable to marry, same-sex couples cannot form any legally recognized partnership nor adopt children.

The current national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government has in recent years led a vociferous campaign against what it calls “LGBT ideology," which it presents as a dangerous set of ideas being imposed by the West that threatens to destroy Poland’s culture, identity, families, and even the state itself.

Earlier this month, after the European Commission announced plans to ensure that the rights of same-sex parents are recognized in all member states, Poland’s justice ministry announced that it would veto them.
https://notesfrompoland.com/2022/12/17/same-sex-c...

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland: Top Court Asks for EU Ruling on Recognizing Same-Sex Marriages Performed Abroad

Per LGBT Marriage News:

On 15 November 2023, Poland’s highest administrative court announced that it will ask the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to issue a ruling on whether same-sex marriages conducted in another member state should be recognized in Poland, even though Polish law does not allow for such unions. This decision by the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) is groundbreaking, as until now Polish courts have refused to refer such cases to the EU level.

The case in question was brought by two men – one a Polish citizen, the other a dual Polish-German national – who married in Berlin. When they sought to have their union recognized in Poland, they were refused, first by the registry office and then by courts, which cited Article 18 of Poland’s Constitution. Now, the NSA has decided to ask the CJEU for a ruling on whether EU law, by protecting freedom of movement and residence within the bloc, prevents a member state from refusing to recognize marriages concluded in another member state.

The Polish court wants its EU counterpart to issue a so-called preliminary ruling, which is a final determination of EU law on a given issue. If the CJEU makes such a ruling, the national court that requested it is obliged to implement it. There is no scope for appeal. The lawyer representing the couple, Anna Mazurczak, told legal news service Prawo.pl that the NSA’s decision on this matter is a “breakthrough."

https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/11/15/polish-top-court-to-ask-for-eu-ruling-on-recognising-same-sex-marriages/

Rick

 

[Rick]

Poland Must Legally Recognize Same-Sex Couples, European Court of Human Rights Rules

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Poland is in violation of the rights of same-sex couples by refusing to offer legal recognition. “The Court considered that the Polish State had failed to comply with its duty to ensure that the applicants had a specific legal framework providing for the recognition and protection of their same-sex unions,” the court said in a statement on 12 December 2023. "That failure had resulted in the applicants’ inability to regulate fundamental aspects of their lives and amounted to a breach of their right to respect for their private and family life.”

The case was originally brought to the court by ten LGBTQ Polish citizens then under the country's conservative Law and Justice party (PiS), a party which had been in power since 2014. The new Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, of the centrist Civic Coalition party, was sworn in today, 13 December 2023, following his recent victory in Poland's October parliamentary elections.

Tusk was also backed by the country's social-democratic party, the New Left, and campaigned on the promise of introducing legal recognition for same-sex partnerships, which he said he considered to be a priority. Tusk has since created the position of Minister for Equality in his cabinet, and appointed New Left politician Katarzyna Kotula to the position.

The European Court of Human Rights has jurisdiction over the 46 countries on the Council of Europe. It cannot force Poland to change its laws, but it can place pressure on the nation by awarding monetary damages to the plaintiffs; in this case, the ten LGBTQ Polish litigants.

https://www.advocate.com/world/poland-marriage-equality-ehrc-ruling#rebelltitem1

Rick

Edited December 13, 2023 by Rick