Officials in Poland’s capital Warsaw announced on Thursday they had formally recognised a same-sex marriage from another EU country for the first time in the mostly Catholic nation’s history.
Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court ruled in March that same-sex marriages contracted in other EU states must be recognised in Poland, incorporating a 2025 EU ruling in a case brought by Jakub Cupriak-Trojan and Mateusz Trojan.
However, Poland’s laws still define marriage as between a man and a woman, and the country is one of the last in Europe not to have legalised either same-sex marriage or civil unions — alongside Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia.
“This morning, we carried out the first transcription” of a same-sex marriage certificate, Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski told the media.
Jakub Cupriak-Trojan and Mateusz Trojan, who married in Berlin in 2018 but had been repeatedly refused recognition in Poland, confirmed they had finally received their Polish marriage certificate.
“We are happy about this and we hope that the next transcriptions, which many couples are waiting for, will be carried out without unnecessary delay,” they told the website OKO.press.
Replika, the publisher of a pro-LGBTQ rights magazine, hailed it as a “historic” and “absolutely pivotal” moment.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s coalition is divided over the issue, but he had hinted on Tuesday that Warsaw city hall’s step was imminent.
Recognising same-sex couples was “a matter of human dignity and human rights”, he said.
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