Poland must be “defended from pathological spread of homosexuality”, says opposition leader Kaczyński

Keep our news free from ads and paywalls by making a donation to support our work!

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.

Conservative opposition leader Jarosław Kaczyński has declared that Poland must be defended from the “spread of homosexuality”, which he called a “pathology”. He also appeared to suggest that same-sex parenting should be criminalised and “severely punished”.

His remarks came in response to the Polish government issuing a regulation allowing same-sex marriages conducted in other European Union member states to be transcribed into Poland’s civil registry. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)  has ordered Poland to recognise such marriages.

Kaczyński is chairman of the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), Poland’s main opposition party. When it was in power from 2015 to 2023, PiS led a vociferous campaign against what it called “LGBT ideology”, which it claims is being imposed on Poland by outside forces.

At a press conference on Saturday, the PiS leader said that, by recognising foreign same-sex marriages, the government is “trying to introduce a profound cultural change in Poland that prioritises the interests of a certain minority group demanding that their otherness be completely ignored”.

“Children will pay for this,” warned Kaczyński, “because, ultimately, it is about the children’s interests. Children should have a mother and a father.”

“Under no circumstances should we conduct anything that could be described as experimentation on children. I would criminalise it completely, introduce a penal provision that severely punishes this type of undertaking, because that is the only way to stop this offensive,” he declared.

Kaczyński then called for Poles to “ask ourselves another question: does any state have an interest in the spread of homosexuality?”

“No state has an interest in this, and Poland obviously has no interest in this either,” he answered. “It is simply a kind of anomaly, a pathology of our times, and it should be treated as such, and Poland must be resolutely defended against this pathology.”

Kaczyński added that he is “not talking about defending [Poland] from homosexuals or persecuting them”, just about ensuring “the proper conditions for raising children, that is, a family where there is a mother and a father”. If PiS returns to power, it will “adopt a much clearer and tougher approach than the current law”.

The PiS leader’s remarks were condemned by deputy education minister Paulina Piechna-Więckiewicz. “Pathology and anomaly are words that hurt and dehumanise,” she wrote. “Nearly 50,000 children are being raised in Poland in rainbow families…and must know that they and their families are safe.”

Earlier this week, another opposition group, the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja), submitted a bill to parliament that would ban the adoption of children by same-sex couples, including the adoption of a spouse’s child. It says the measures will “protect the youngest from depravity” and “exploitation”.

In fact, leading scientific and medical organisations, such as the American Psychological Association and Cornell University, have noted that academic studies show no increased risk of harm, including sexual abuse, to the children of same-sex couples.

Confederation’s move came after two Polish cities, Warsaw and Wrocław, last week begin transcribing foreign same-sex marriages into their civil registries.

They did so in response to a ruling by the CJEU requiring Poland to recognise such marriages conducted in other EU member states, followed by another from Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) ordering Warsaw to transcribe one such marriage certificate.

The two cities acted despite the Polish government not yet introducing any regulations allowing for same-sex marriages to be entered into the registry system, which up to now only recognised male-female unions.

However, on Friday this week, the government issued such a regulation, which it says will now allow any registry office in the country to transcribe foreign same-sex marriages.

There remains uncertainty about what legal consequences this will have in practice for such couples, especially given that Poland’s domestic law does not allow for any legally recognised form of same-sex union. Legal experts say it will take time – and potential further court rulings – for norms to be established.

However, Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared last week that, even though his government would allow recognition of foreign same-sex marriages, “this is in no way a path to [allowing] adoption” of children by such couples.

Public opinion polls also indicate that, while a majority of Poles now support the idea of same-sex civil partnerships, only a minority are in favour of allowing same-sex marriage and even fewer support the right to adoption by same-sex couples.

In 2024, state research agency CBOS found that only 23% of the public supported the right to adoption (up from 6% in 2010), while 70% were opposed (down from 89% in 2010).

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: KPRM (under CC BY-SA 4.0)

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.