Warsaw [Poland], November 28: The EU's highest court ruled on Wednesday that same-sex marriages must be respected throughout the bloc and rebuked Poland for refusing to recognize a marriage between two of its citizens that took place in Germany.
The court said Poland had been wrong in not recognizing the marriage of the couple when they moved back to Poland, on the grounds that Polish law does not allow marriage between people of the same sex.
"It infringes not only the freedom to move and reside, but also the fundamental right to respect for private and family life," the court said.
In predominantly Catholic Poland, the struggle for LGBT equality for years was branded by those in power as a dangerous foreign ideology. However, the current government has been working on a bill to regulate civil partnerships, including same-sex unions.
The EU Court of Justice made the binding ruling at the request of a Polish court handling the case of the men who had contested the refusal to transcribe their German marriage certificate in the Polish registry.
The couple, who wed in Berlin in 2018, have been identified only by their initials in the case.
"This ruling is historic," said Pawel Knut, the lawyer representing the couple. "It marks a new beginning in the fight for equality and equal treatment for same-sex couples."
He said that Poland's Supreme Administrative Court would now have to decide whether to perform the transcription or not, but that he believed Tuesday's ruling was binding upon it.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
