Poland recognises a same-sex marriage for the first time

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland has legally recognised a same-sex relationship for the first time, after the city of Warsaw complied with a court order to transcribe into its civil registry a marriage between two men that took place in Germany.

“This is an open and tolerant city,” declared mayor Rafał Trzaskowski (pictured above right, at a 2023 pride march). “The defence of minorities who have been attacked for many years is paramount to us. Warsaw is for everyone.”

However, given that domestic Polish law still does not allow for any form of same-sex union, it remains unclear what the legal consequences of recognising such marriages conducted abroad will be. Trzaskowski has called on the government to take action to provide clarity.

The couple in question, Jakub Cupriak-Trojan and Mateusz Trojan, are Polish citizens who have fought a years-long legal battle to have their marriage, which took place in Berlin in 2018, recognised in Poland.

Their initial attempts were rejected by Warsaw’s registry office and courts, which cited the article of Poland’s constitution that says: “Marriage, being a union of a man and a woman, as well as the family, motherhood and parenthood, shall be placed under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland.”

By 2023, the case had reached Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court (NSA), which in turn asked the Court of Justice of the European Union for a ruling on the issue.

Last November, the CJEU ruled that Poland must recognise same-sex marriages conducted in other EU member states. That was in turn followed by an NSA ruling in March ordering the Warsaw registry office to transcribe the Cupriak-Trojans’ marriage certificate.

However, there have remained doubts as to how the authorities would comply with those rulings, given that Poland’s civil registry only allows marriages between a man and a woman to be entered. The government has discussed how to do this, but so far has not enacted any changes.

On Tuesday this week, Trzaskowski, who has been a vocal supporter of expanding LGBT+ rights, announced that his city had now officially received the NSA’s ruling and would implement it “in the coming days”.

On Thursday, he revealed that the Cupriak-Trojans’ marriage had been transcribed into the civil registry. He also confirmed that the city would do the same with other same-sex marriages involving Polish citizens conducted in other EU countries.

Asked how the city had managed to transcribe the marriage certificate given that the system only recognises male-female marriages, Trzaskowski said that they had done it “in the way we deemed most appropriate, after consultation with registry offices and organisations working for LGBT+ rights”.

Jakub Cupriak-Trojan confirmed in a social media post that one of their names had been entered in the field marked “man” and the other in the one marked “woman”, despite both being men.

“Under current law, this is the most sensible solution,” wrote Cupriak-Trojan, as it means that, once the regulations change and the fields are no longer called “man” and “woman”, each spouse will have their data in the correct place.

It remains unclear when those regulations will be changed. On Tuesday this week, Prime Minister Donald Tusk issued an apology to same-sex couples for the “years of rejection and humiliation” they have experienced due to Poland not legally recognising their relationships.

He pledged that the government would seek “as soon as possible” to implement the recent CJEU and NSA rulings. However, he provided no clear details of how this would happen, suggesting it would involve a combination of government regulations and “additional legislative solutions”.

The problem with the latter element is that, while government regulations can be issued unilaterally, legislative changes require approval from parliament and the president.

Tusk’s ruling coalition does have a parliamentary majority, but includes conservative elements who have expressed reluctance towards expanding LGBT+ rights. Even if parliamentary approval is obtained, opposition-aligned right-wing President Karol Nawrocki seems certain to veto any such bills.

On Wednesday evening, digital affairs minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, whose department is responsible for the civil registry system, announced that he had signed a draft regulation that would amend marriage certificates to allow recognition of same-sex marriages conducted abroad.

“The marriage certificate will include a clear description indicating whether it concerns a marriage between a woman and a man, a woman and a woman, or a man and a man,” said Gawkowski. However, he noted that the regulation still needed approval from the interior minister, Marcin Kierwiński.

On Thursday morning, Kierwiński told Polsat News that he hoped to sign Gawkowski’s draft regulation “quickly, within the next few days”.

A further unresolved question is what the legal effects of transcribing foreign same-sex marriages into the Polish civil registry will be, given that Polish law does not recognise any form of same-sex relationships.

Trzaskowski highlighted that issue earlier this week, and today again emphasised that government action is needed to clarify the situation, reports the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

Speaking to Polsat News today, Kierwiński confirmed that the transcription of marriage certificates “does not mean that marriages concluded abroad will have each and every right” available to other married couples.

Last year, Tusk’s coalition agreed on a draft law that would grant certain legal rights to same-sex couples, though without formally allowing them to marry or form a civil partnership. However, since then, the legislation has not been voted on in parliament and, even if it were to pass, would face a likely presidential veto.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Main image credit: Slawomir Kaminski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.