European Court Rules that Poland Must Recognise Same-Sex Partnerships

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Poland has violated the right to respect for private life by failing to provide legal recognition to same-sex couples, the court's website reports.

In the case of Przybyszewska and Others v. Poland, ten Poles argued that the vast majority of Council of Europe member states grant same-sex couples the right to marry or enter into registered civil unions, and claimed that they are at a disadvantage, for example, in the areas of taxation, social rights and family law.

"The court held that the Polish state had failed to fulfil its obligation to provide the applicants with a specific legal framework providing for the recognition and protection of their same-sex unions," the court said in its ruling.

"This failure has resulted in the applicants being unable to regulate fundamental aspects of their lives and has violated their right to respect for their private and family life," the ECHR said.

The case dates back to the rule of the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which ended after eight years on Monday when parliament backed a new pro-European government led by Donald Tusk.

PiS says that extending marriage and adoption rights to homosexual couples threatens traditional family structures and is harmful to children. The statement also says that teaching LGBT issues in schools leads to the sexualisation of children.

During the election campaign, Tusk said that his party would introduce provisions for same-sex partnerships and that he considered this a priority.

ECHR rulings are binding on members of the Council of Europe, an organisation separate from the European Union, but some have remained unimplemented for years.

According to Reuters, the Love Does Not Exclude association, which supported the applicants in court, said the decision would put "serious pressure" on the government to introduce same-sex partnerships.

"Since the new government wants to restore Poland's reputation... and prove that the crisis of the rule of law is over, it will not be able to ignore the voices of international bodies such as the tribunal," the organisation said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

As The Gaze previously reported, on 11 December, the Polish parliament elected Donald Tusk as the country's new prime minister. During his speech, Tusk said he was going to strengthen the protection of the rights of the LGBT community.