In Poland, there will be no marriage of a man and a woman: the indication of gender will be removed from the documents

In Poland, instead of the wording "husband" and "wife", the marriage certificate will have to contain the terms "first spouse" and "second spouse". The corresponding draft resolution was submitted to the Government of the country.

According to Polish media, the country is preparing changes to its civil status documents in response to the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union obliging member states to recognize same-sex marriages legally concluded in other EU countries. According to the Ministry of Digital Technologies of Poland, the proposed changes are designed to adapt Polish registries to the requirements of EU legislation.

"Poland is obliged to recognize same-sex marriages legally concluded in other EU countries. This is the law that we must and want to apply — the Court's decision The EU clearly confirms this." He stressed that the actions of the Polish government are dictated by a legal obligation, and not by changing the definition of marriage in Polish law," said Polish Minister of Digital Technologies Krzysztof Havkowski.

According to him, the signed documents begin the process of amending the civil status records. According to the Ministry of Digital Technologies, the refusal to register same-sex marriages in the Polish civil registry violates EU law, including the principle of equal treatment and freedom of movement and residence of EU citizens.

"The reality is that failure to implement this decision makes it difficult to travel and free movement in the European Union," said Krzysztof Smiszek, a member of the European Parliament from the Polish New Left party.

The Minister of Digital Technologies of Poland has already ordered to prepare a legal and technical analysis, which will determine the scope of the necessary changes. In the existing document templates, the terms "woman" and "man" are used, which makes it impossible for the correct registration of same-sex marriages. The draft regulation introduces "gender-neutral terms" such as "first spouse" and "second spouse", updates the fields of parental data and corrects the provisions concerning the names of spouses in records and certificates.

Recall, the EU Court of Justice made a decision on November 25, 2025, obliging all EU countries to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other member states, even if these marriages are not recognized by national legislation. The decision of the European Court of Justice stated that the refusal to recognize same-sex marriages violates the right to freedom of movement and residence, as well as the right to privacy.