Poland's Top Court Orders Recognition of Same-Sex Marriages Performed Abroad

Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court has ordered a local civil registry to record a same-sex marriage performed in Germany — a decision that, while narrow in its legal scope, represents the most significant step toward marriage recognition for same-sex couples in Polish history.

The March 20 ruling came in the case of two men — identified in court documents as JC-T, who holds Polish and German citizenship, and MT, a Polish national — who married in Berlin in 2018. When they returned to Poland and asked authorities to register their marriage, they were refused. Polish officials cited the constitution, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The couple sued. Their case eventually reached the Supreme Administrative Court, which sided with them — but not on the basis of Polish law. The decision rests entirely on EU law and the freedom of movement it guarantees.

The Legal Foundation

The ruling builds on a November 2025 decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which found that EU member states cannot refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other member states when doing so would impede the freedom of movement of EU citizens.

That CJEU decision, in turn, expanded on the 2018 Coman ruling, which first established that the term “spouse” in EU free-movement law includes same-sex partners. The November 2025 ruling went further, holding that recognition of foreign same-sex marriages “does not undermine the national identity or pose a threat to the public policy” of member states.

Judge Leszek Kirnaszek, writing for the Polish court, echoed this reasoning: “EU regulations grant every citizen the right to freedom of movement and prohibit discrimination on the grounds of sex and sexual orientation.”

What This Does — and Doesn’t — Change

The ruling is significant but comes with real limitations.

It requires Polish civil registries to record same-sex marriages performed abroad. This means the marriage appears in official documents and carries legal weight for purposes tied to EU free-movement rights — things like residency, inheritance, and spousal immigration benefits.

But this is not marriage equality in Poland. Same-sex couples cannot marry domestically. The constitutional definition of marriage remains unchanged. And because the ruling is grounded in free-movement law, it’s unclear whether it covers all same-sex marriages involving Polish citizens or only those where the couple actually exercised their right to live in another EU country.

Hubert Sobecki of Love Doesn’t Exclude, a Polish LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, called the ruling “the best path to real change today,” while noting that legislative progress on marriage equality remains unlikely in the near term.

The Numbers Behind the Ruling

An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 Polish citizens have entered same-sex marriages abroad. For many of them, this ruling means their marriages may finally carry some legal recognition in their home country — depending on how broadly Polish courts interpret its scope.

Poland has long been one of the EU’s most resistant member states on LGBTQ+ rights. Several municipalities declared themselves “LGBT-free zones” in 2019 and 2020, though many later rescinded those declarations under EU funding pressure. The previous PiS government used anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric as a core campaign strategy. The current coalition government under Donald Tusk has been more moderate in tone but has not pursued marriage equality legislation.

The EU as a Backdoor to Rights

What’s happening in Poland follows a pattern visible across the EU: when national legislatures won’t act, EU law becomes the mechanism through which LGBTQ+ people access basic rights. The CJEU has emerged as the most consequential institution for queer rights in Europe — not because it’s progressive by design, but because freedom of movement and non-discrimination are foundational EU principles that, when applied consistently, inevitably extend to LGBTQ+ citizens.

This same dynamic played out this week in Romania, where a court was forced to recognize a trans man’s legal gender identity based on CJEU precedent. It played out in Lithuania, which recently implemented civil partnerships partly under EU pressure.

The limitation of this approach is obvious: it only works for people who can afford to marry abroad and then litigate at home. It creates a two-tier system where LGBTQ+ rights depend on your ability to navigate cross-border legal frameworks. For the Polish couple who started this case in 2018, the fight took eight years. Not everyone has that kind of time, money, or resilience.

But for now, in a country where the legislature won’t act and the constitution is stacked against equality, EU law is the only game in town. And as of March 20, it’s a game that same-sex couples in Poland are starting to win.