For the first time in the history of predominantly Catholic Poland, the city hall in Warsaw officially recognized a same-sex marriage concluded in another EU member state, AFP reported on Thursday.
- For the first time, Warsaw has officially recognized the marriage of a same-sex couple concluded abroad.
- Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court ordered the recognition of foreign homosexual marriages under EU law.
- Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the recognition of these unions a matter of human dignity.
The first transcription of the marriage certificate
“This morning we made the first transcription” of the same-sex marriage certificate, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski told the media on Thursday.
Jakub Cupriak-Trojan and Mateusz Trojan, who got married in Berlin in 2018 but were repeatedly refused to recognize their marriage in Poland, also confirmed that they finally got the Polish marriage certificate. “We are happy and we hope that the next transcriptions, which many couples are waiting for, will be carried out without unnecessary delays,” the couple told the OKO.press website.
The publisher of Replika magazine, which supports the rights of LGBTI+ people, called the recognition of this marriage “historic” and “an absolutely fundamental step”.
Poland does not recognize same-sex marriages or registered partnerships
AFP recalled that laws in Poland continue to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Along with Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia, Poland is among the last countries in Europe that have not legalized either same-sex marriages or registered partnerships.
In the Cupriak-Trojan/Trojan case, Warsaw City Hall acted on the basis of the opinion of the Polish Supreme Administrative Court, which ruled in March that same-sex marriages concluded in other EU countries must be recognized in Poland. In its opinion, the Polish court relied on the judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU from 2025 in the case initiated by Jakub Cupriak-Trojan and Mateusz Trojan.
The Polish coalition government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk is divided on the issue of recognizing same-sex relationships. However, Tusk indicated on Tuesday that the issuance of the Polish marriage certificate by Warsaw City Hall is expected. He added that recognizing the unions of same-sex couples is “a matter of human dignity and human rights.”
