Polish Constitutional Court rules registration of same-sex marriage unlawful

Constitutional Court of Poland. Photo: Bankier.pl

Poland’s Constitutional Court has ruled unlawful a directive by the Ministry of Digital Affairs allowing the registration of foreign same-sex unions, Polsat News reports.

Court President Bogdan Święczkowski announced the unanimous decision of the three-judge panel. The ministerial directive had previously allowed records of same-sex marriages contracted abroad to be entered into Poland’s civil registry.

A group of lawmakers challenged the initiative in court in early June. Their representative, Marcin Warchoł, said the new rules grossly violated the Constitution’s definition of the family. According to him, officials had attempted to undermine the traditional understanding of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

The ministry had planned to introduce new document forms on August 23. In the revised forms, officials replaced explicit references to a man and a woman with general gender-neutral wording. The court’s ruling halted the introduction of the new forms and, according to the lawmakers who challenged the measure, safeguarded traditional family values in the country.

As previously reported by the UOJ, Senegal enshrined in its Constitution the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

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