“If the Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) does not understand constitutional provisions, that is its own matter. This is lawlessness, a violation of the rule of law, an affront to reason, because marriage is a union of a man and a woman. There is no such thing as same-sex marriage,” this is how Przemysław Czarnek commented today on the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision.
Today, the Supreme Administrative Court issued a ruling ordering a civil registry office to enter into the Polish register a same-sex marriage certificate concluded abroad.
The court decided to overturn the judgment of the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw, which had dismissed the couple’s complaint, and to overturn the decision of the head of the Civil Registry Office of the Capital City of Warsaw refusing to perform the transcription. It also ordered the head of that office to transfer the marriage certificate into the civil registry through transcription within 30 days from the return of the administrative files.
Today, Law and Justice’s candidate for prime minister, Przemysław Czarnek, was asked about the decision. “You cannot register something that does not exist. Marriage is a union of a man and a woman, and only as such is it subject to the care and protection of the Republic of Poland, as stipulated in Article 18 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. If the Supreme Administrative Court does not understand constitutional provisions, that is its own matter. This is lawlessness, a violation of the rule of law, an affront to reason, because marriage is a union of a man and a woman. There is no such thing as same-sex marriage” – the politician said briefly.
In the reasoning of the judgment, Supreme Administrative Court judge Leszek Kiermaszek stated that Article 18 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland “does not constitute an absolute obstacle” to the recognition of a same-sex union.
“From this provision, in the view of the adjudicating court, it cannot be inferred that it constitutes an absolute obstacle to the recognition of a marriage between persons of the same sex, concluded in another EU country in accordance with that country’s legislation, including also the transcription of such a marriage certificate into the Polish register through transcription” – the Supreme Administrative Court judge noted.