Poland officially starts legally recognising foreign same-sex marriages
Warsaw Pride in 2022 (Getty Images)
Poland has officially started legally recognising same-sex marriages performed abroad, though same-sex marriage is illegal in the country.
The move follows a ruling in the EU Court of Justice, which sided with a same-sex couple whose marriage, which was performed in Germany, was not granted legal recognition in Poland. That decision was upheld in Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court in March.
According to TVP World, the ruling came into effect on 23 August. Now, civil registry offices can transcribe foreign same-sex marriage certificates, as documents were introduced to cover marriages between a woman and a man, two men, or two women.
It is not clear whether marriages performed outside of the EU will be transcribed, though.
Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said: “Starting [Sunday], the Polish state will better protect the dignity and rights of its citizens. This marks the end of the administrative fiction and uncertainty that Polish families have faced for years. This is the end of the temporary practice of entering women as men or men as women in certificates.
“This is an important step toward a Poland in which equality is not an empty word, but a principle of state action.”
Pushback in Poland
Same-sex marriages still cannot be performed in Poland.
And in July, the country’s president blocked a bill that would have given same-sex couples more rights.
President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the legislation, which was backed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, which would have given same-sex couples the ability to register a legal agreement that would give them rights in joint property ownership, access to a partner’s medical information, inheritance tax exemptions, joint tax settlement, and the ability to make burial decisions, as reported by Notes From Poland.
Nawrocki argued it would have created a “back door” method for civil partnerships and undermine the definition of marriage, as between a man and a woman.
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