Same-sex couple file complaint in Strasbourg after Poland refuses to recognize marriage abroad
A Polish same-sex couple have lost their long-standing efforts to have their marriage abroad recognized by the Polish legal system. They have now pledged to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Agata Kowalska, a journalist, and Emilia Barabasz, a lawyer, got married in Germany in 2018. Back in Poland, they sought to have their marriage certificate registered in the Polish civil registry.
However, the registry office refused, on the grounds that same-sex marriage is not recognized in Poland. The couple appealed the decision but had their case dismissed first by the governor of Mazovia province – a government appointee – and then by the provincial administrative court in Warsaw.
This week they saw their last domestic avenue of appeal closed, after the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) ruled to uphold previous decisions to deny registration of their marriage.
NSA przyszedł na rozprawę z gotowym rozstrzygnięciem. I oddalił naszą skargę. Krajowa ścieżka wyczerpana (USC, wojewoda, WSA, NSA). Idziemy in Strasbourg! #transkrypcja #LGBT #ETPCz pic.twitter.com/wuW7z9TdMe
— Agata Kowalska 🏳️🌈 (@AgataKowalskaTT) December 14, 2022
In its justification for the decision, the NSA pointed to the “unambiguous” content of Article 18 of the Polish constitution, reports OKO.press. This 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 held that section 18 did not prevent Parliament from introducing the institution of same-sex civil partnerships in the future. A a similar decision was recently issued by the NSA when he rejected an offer from another same-sex couple to have their marriage recognized abroad.
“We are not surprised by the verdict,” Kowalska told OKO.press. “The courts fear the political consequences. Our arguments were completely ignored. The possibility of establishing civil unions does not apply to us at all. The court did not address the problem of erroneous vital records which we still have to use.
My friend @AgataKowalskaTT explains why she and his wife @emibarabaszwho got married in Germany a few years ago and have since been trying to register their marital status in Poland, should be treated with the utmost respect by the Polish authorities. https://t.co/BONC6iaUON pic.twitter.com/oEWNixrugI
— Ben Stanley (@BDStley) December 14, 2022
Kowalska notes that the lack of recognition of their marriage has left her and Barabasz in a “legal vacuum”. When dealing with state offices, banks or other institutions, the couple must “check the box saying we are single,” which is a “lie,” Kowalska says.
“It’s humiliating,” adds Barabasz. “We are in 2022. We are in the EU. A neighboring country, Germany, issued us a document that we are obliged to notify to the Polish civil status office. We did it. And our state, instead of just putting a note in our records that it was issued, prefers to look the other way and leave us in limbo.
Their lawyer, Anna Mazurczak, told news outlet Noizz that the couple did not claim that Poland should “recognize all the effects of their marriage”, but simply that it should officially register the fact that they got married in Poland. foreigner.
Both men now say they will take the case to Strasbourg, as they believe their right to respect for private and family life – which is protected by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights – has been violated.
For three years, Poland has been ranked as the worst country in the EU for LBGT people by ILGA-Europe, an NGO based in Brussels. In addition to not being able to marry, same-sex couples cannot form legally recognized partnerships or adopt children.
The current national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government has in recent years conducted a virulent campaign against what she calls “LGBT ideology”which he presents as a dangerous set of ideas imposed by the West that threatens to destroy Polish culture, identity, families and even the state.
After the European Commission announced this month its intention to ensure that the rights of same-sex parents are recognized in all member states, the Polish Ministry of Justice announced that he would veto them.
Main image credit: Dawid Zuchowicz / Agencja Gazeta
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written about Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Police, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.