LGBTQ+ rights in Poland and around the world

Marriage equality currently exists in approximately 30% of the world’s countries – 39 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Oceania, as well as in a few African jurisdictions. This is the result of years of efforts by human rights movements and the gradual evolution of the social perception of marriage as an institution based not on gender, but on mutual commitment and love.

Same-sex civil partnerships are recognized in 30 countries. In Europe alone, 68% of countries have already adopted appropriate legal regulations enabling the formalization of relationships and ensuring at least some of the rights enjoyed by heterosexual couples. This is a significant step towards equality, providing legal protection for the everyday lives of same-sex couples – primarily in matters of inheritance, healthcare, and joint property.

In Poland, there are still no laws recognizing same-sex relationships. These issues remain outside the family law system, which in practice means that the state provides non-heteronormative couples with no legal tools to protect their relationships.

When it comes to protection against discrimination based on psychosexual orientation or gender identity, appropriate regulations exist in 90 countries worldwide – 40 of which are in Europe. The lack of such regulations is still observed in only four countries on our continent: Russia, Belarus, Turkey, and Poland.

A fully liberal transition process, understood as the right to self-determination regarding gender identity, is currently fully recognized in only five European countries and 12 globally. In Poland, transgender people still struggle with lengthy and complex court procedures, which often last several years and require the involvement of third parties, such as parents.

However, a breakthrough occurred in 2025. In a resolution of March 4, 2025 (III CZP 6/24), the Supreme Court ruled that gender recognition should be a non-litigious process, meaning there is no need to sue parents. This is a decision of great symbolic and practical significance – for the first time, the Polish justice system has explicitly recognized that the issue of gender identity should not be the subject of a court dispute, but an act of personal self-determination of an individual.