Poland
Categories Score
The full bar chart stands for 100%, and is filled by the country category score. The colour display uses the traffic light palette, with Green representing a score closer to 100% and Red a score closer to 0%.
ASYLUM
This category looks into laws that expressly include SOGISC as a qualification criteria for seeking asylum. We also take into account other legislation, policies, instruction or positive measures by state actors that are related to asylum addressing the needs and rights of LGBTI asylum seekers and refugees.
Criteria Compliance Ratio
Each pie charts stands for a category and is divided in slices by criteria. When a country complies with a criteria – fully or in some regions – the slice is coloured.
Keep in mind the criteria have different weighting factor within a category; for example, the criteria Prohibition of medical intervention without informed consent (intersex) stands for half (2.5%) of the INTERSEX BODILY INTEGRITY category weighting factor (5%). Meaning that even if a country can only comply with this specific criteria within the category (1/4 total criteria) the category scores 50%.
More information on the categories and criteria weighting factors here.
Category & Criteria Table
The table lists detailed information and insights on legislation supporting each criterion status. Please use the filters for in-depth analysis.
n/a = not applicable, meaning the criteria didn’t exist in the previous Rainbow Map edition (PROGRESSION column)
- Complies
- Applicable in some regions only
- Does not Comply
RECOMMENDATIONS
In order to improve the legal and policy situation of LGBTI people in Poland, ILGA-Europe recommend:
- Adopting legal measures to recognise and protect same-sex couples, such as registered partnership.
- Adopting legislation to allow same-sex couples to have access to second parent adoption.
- Introducing hate crime laws that explicitly cover all bias-motivated crimes based on SOGIESC (sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics).
Annual Review of Poland
In our Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of LGBTI People in Europe and Central Asia, we examine the advances made and provide concrete examples of on-the-ground situations at national level country-by-country in the 12 months from January to December 2023.
Read our Annual Review of Poland below for more details and stories behind the Rainbow Map. You can also download the Annual Review chapter (.pdf) covering Poland.
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(See also under Education)
Hate speech and anti-LGBTQ+ messaging was used significantly less through the campaign period leading up to the general elections held in October, yet remained prevalent in discussions about education in schools.
In January, Deputy Minister of Justice, Marcin Warchoł, said that the TVP2’s New Year celebration, which featured the Black Eyed Peas with rainbow armbands, was the “New Year’s Eve of Abnormalities”. In May, PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński said that information on LGBTQI+ issues in schools exposes students to “practices that are certainly harmful to them
and may cause serious damage to their psyche”. Also in May, Ombudsman for Children Mikołaj Pawlak said his inspection of LGBTQI-friendly schools is to protect children from
“criminals” and “paedophiles”. In a statement in May, Education Minister Czarnek blamed the spread of “LGBTQ+ ideology” and “brainwashing” for the rise of suicide among minors.
In January, the Szczecin-Centrum District Court found a truck driver guilty of spreading homophobic statements and defamation and fined him 15,000 PLN (3,360 EURO).
Also in January, the Polish National Television appealed the 2022 verdicts that found it guilty of slandering the LGBT community in a prime time report in 2019. Following the broadcast, a group of activists and KPH filed lawsuits against the channel. The activists’ lawsuit appeal is planned for January 2024.
In March, the head of the fundamentalist group Right to Life (Fundacja Pro Prawo do Życia) was found guilty of defamation for its “Stop Paedophilia” campaign, which links sex education to the “sexualisation of children” and runs vans around the country with anti-LGBT messages displayed on them. This was the first conviction of a responsible manager in such cases.
Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski and PiS politicians called the ruling a “repression against opponents of LGBT ideology”.
In February, the European Commission closed its infringement procedure against Poland over the so-called ‘LGBT-free zones’. Local municipalities continued to withdraw anti-LGBT resolutions or Family Rights Charters this year (see here, here, and here), but some of them remain in place. In 2022, the European Commission amended its Partnership Agreement with Poland to ensure that municipalities that have anti-LGBT resolutions in place do not receive financial support. Following a European Commission visit in February, the Commission affirmed that this remains the case. Monitoring Committees are now monitoring non-discrimination in the distribution of EU funds in Poland with the participation of both LGBT+ NGOs and far-right fundamentalist organisations like Ordo Iuris. In October, the Supreme Court declared another five anti-LGBT resolutions invalid, in Niebylec and Lipinki counties, the poviats of Ryki and Tarnów and the Lublin Voivodeship.
The National Broadcasting Council started an investigation against the TV show Contact Lens for a transphobic joke that was made on air. A few weeks later, the Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw issued judgments in three cases condemning the Council’s lack of action in tackling hateful content on TV and radio in 2022.
In July, the Basta Foundation submitted a complaint to the European Commission, alleging that the state is failing to take adequate action against anti-LGBT+ hate speech in Polish media.
In May, several NGOs and INGOs sent an appeal to the EU Ministers ahead of the next EU General Affairs Council about the continued erosion of democracy and human rights in the country.
Several groups that organise Pride marches received threats this year.
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In January, far-right MP Grzegorz Braun binned a Christmas tree in Krakow that featured pro-LGBT messages.
In May, a woman carrying a rainbow flag was shot in the head with a BB gun at the Olsztyn Equality March. On the day of the Equality Pride in Warsaw in June, a 15-year-old was verbally harassed and then pushed off the tram for wearing a rainbow- coloured outfit. The police officer at the scene made offensive remarks to the teenager. The teenager reported the perpetrator and the police officer. Several rainbow flags were set on fire by Life and Family Foundation (Fundacji Życie i Rodzina) members during the march.
In July, Attorney General and Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro released a neo-nazi organiser who had served one of three years of her sentence for assaulting a Pride participant and taking away her rainbow-decorated purse. In August, Ziobro requested that the National Council of the Judiciary examine court rulings he thought to have been political and biased, and allegedly lenient towards leftist and LGBT people but strict against conservatives.
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PiS continued to make stigmatising statements about information on LGBTQI+ issues to students. Education Minister Czarnek said he would put the controversial ‘Lex Czarnek’, vetoed by President Duda twice in 2022, back on the parliament’s agenda following the elections.
Upon the initiative of Ordo Iuris, leader of the governing party PiS Jarosław Kaczyński proposed a bill against the “sexualisation” of children called “Protect Children, Support Parents” in May, similar to ‘Lex Czarnek’. The ‘Let’s protect children’ citizen’s initiative gathered 250,000 signatures and led to the lower parliament chamber (Sejm) passing an amendment of the Education Law in August that bans external organisations from “promoting issues related to the sexualisation of children” in preschools and primary schools.
The initiative was supported by the Speaker of the Sejm. In September, a coalition of NGOs turned to the European Commission to ask for the temporary suspension of funds
to the Ministry of Education and Science, listing among the reasons the head of the Ministry’s anti-LGBT statement sand the planned registry of youth, including LGBT+ youth, seeking support.
This year’s LGBT school ranking, published by LGBTplusMe.com in May, identified the most inclusive and accepting schools in Poznań, Warsaw, Łódź, Gdańsk, Olsztyn, Kraków and Kędzierzyn- Koźle. A protest was held outside the school in Kędzierzyn- Koźle, featuring signs “School should teach, not corrupt” and “NO to LGBT in schools”. The Ombudsmperson for Children Mikołaj Pawlak announced he would inspect the top ranking schools, to see if they had screened their teachers and staff for ‘paedophilia’. In July, the Commissioner for Human Rights questioned Pawlak about the legal basis of his planned inquiry. This year’s Rainbow Friday on October 27 supported LGBT+ students in over 100 schools with workshops and educational packages, earning extensive media and social media coverage.
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In January, the European Court of Justice ruled that the ban on discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation applies to self-employed persons too. The District Court in Warsaw affirmed in April that the Polish National Television’s refusal to extend a contract due to a person’s sexual orientation was discriminatory.
A priest was fired from the Pontifical University in Krakow, for having visited gay clubs 13 years ago.
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In March, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls visited Poland and emphasised concerns about restrictions on access to abortion, inequality, and the mistreatment of non-Ukrainian refugees and asylum seekers.
In March, the Katowice District Court ordered that PiS councillor Grażyna Welon apologise to city council chair Ewa Szota (KO) for outing her in 2020 and pay PLN 30,000 to KPH. Krakow City Hall raised the rainbow flag on the occasion of IDAHOBIT in May.
On 5 June, the European Court of Justice ruled that Poland’s 2019 justice reforms, which for instance prevent courts from applying EU law, are incompatible with EU legislation.
Much of the year centred around the autumn general elections. During the summer, mass protests were held against the government’s policies, including those targeting LGBT people and women. The government, which had been in power since 2015, lost the elections to the opposition coalition in October. By the end of the year a government coalition was formed with a clear commitment to LGBTI rights.
The Opatrzności Bożej Evangelical-Augsburg parish in Wrocław stood in support of the June Pride march and invited the community to a mass.
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14 rainbow families requested that local authorities change their children’s IDs to recognise both parents. Faced with a refusal, some families filed a complaint to the European Commission against the Polish government. In 2022, the CJEU ruled that Poland has the obligation to legally recognise both parents in a same-gender couple in travel documents to ensure the family’s freedom of movement, but the government failed to do this.
In December, the ECHR ruled that Poland had failed to ensure a specific legal framework providing for the recognition and protection of same-sex unions in the Przybyszewska and Others v. Poland case. The applicants were five same-sex couples.
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Poland did not join the European Commission’s infringement proceedings against Hungary over its anti-LGBT legislation. Poland refused to support the EU Justice Affairs Council’s conclusions on the protection of LGBTI communities in Europe. The Minister of Justice said the conclusions force “special LGBT rights” on people.
The European Commission continued to withhold EU funds due to rule of law violations.
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In April, the Częstochowa District Court sentenced, infirst instance, two activists to community service and a fine for carrying a picture of Virgin Mary with a rainbow halo and the 2021 Equality March.
General Prosecutor Ziebro sent an extraordinary complaint following the 2022 ruling of the Częstochowa District Court, which found that carrying the rainbow-haloed Mary at the 2019 Equality March was not offensive. The case is with the Supreme Court.
The trials against the creators of Atlas of Hate continued this year. The Białystok appeals court ruled in favour of the activists in April. In October, the Powiat Przysuski Court decided to discontinue the case.
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In April, the Częstochowa District Court sentenced, infirst instance, two activists to community service and a fine for carrying a picture of Virgin Mary with a rainbow halo and the 2021 Equality March.
General Prosecutor Ziebro sent an extraordinary complaint following the 2022 ruling of the Częstochowa District Court, which found that carrying the rainbow-haloed Mary at the 2019 Equality March was not offensive. The case is with the Supreme Court.
The trials against the creators of Atlas of Hate continued this year. The Białystok appeals court ruled in favour of the activists in April. In October, the Powiat Przysuski Court decided to discontinue the case.
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The far-right Ordo Iuris announced it would seek to ban legal gender recognition for minors.
Academic research showed that living in “LGBT-free zones” harms LGBT people, confirming earlier findings by KPH and Lambda Warszawa. Since the anti-LGBT resolutions, the annual suicide attempt rate has risen by 16%.
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In May, three LGBTQI+ activists were sentenced to six to twelve months of community service for attacking a religious fundamentalist van which spread anti-LGBT messages in 2020.
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The Parliamentary Committee of Ethics issued a reprimand, the maximum punishment in Parliament, to a far-right MP for referring to the LGBT community as “the rainbow plague”.
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Civil society submitted an opinion to the Supreme Court this year, following the Minister of Justice Ziobro’s 2022 request for the Supreme Court to consider that in addition to their parents, trans people should also file a court case against their children and spouse when they want to access LGR.
In August, the Human Rights Ombudsperson filed an extraordinary complaint in response to a court’s denial of legal gender recognition for a trans person.
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An Ipsos poll found that over half of the population supports Pride marches and a quarter think that the growing number of marches is a positive phenomenon.
Another Ipsos poll showed that support for equal marriage has grown from 21 to 32% in the last decade. 64% of respondents believe that trans people should be protected from discrimination.
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Huge protests were held in June after yet another woman died due to the strict abortion laws.
The full Annual Review for 2024 is available here.