- Homosexuality
- ⚢✔ Legal
- Gay Marriage
- ⚭✖ Unregistered cohabitation
- Censorship
- ✔ No censorship
- Changing Gender
- ✖ Legal, but requires medical diagnosis
- Gender-Affirming Care
- ✔ Legal
- Non-Binary Gender Recognition
- ✖ Not legally recognized
- Discrimination
- ✖ Illegal in some contexts
- Employment Discrimination
- ✔ Sexual orientation and gender identity
- Housing Discrimination
- ✖ No protections
- Adoption
- ✖ Single only
- Intersex Infant Surgery
- ✖ Not banned
- Military
- ✖ Lesbians, gays, bisexuals permitted, transgender people banned
- Donating Blood
- ✔ Legal
- Conversion Therapy
- ✖ Not banned
- Age of Consent
- ✔ Equal
Public Opinion
Surveys in Poland have revealed a prevalence of resistance towards LGBTQ+ rights.
Perception of LGBTQ+ People
Survey results from 24 LGBTQ+ Equaldex users who lived in or visited Poland.
Overall
Perceived Safety**Survey results represent personal perceptions of safety and may not be indicative of current actual conditions.
Equal Treatment
Visibility & Representation
Culture
Services
History
Homosexual activity in Poland is legal.
Same-sex marriage in Poland is unregistered cohabitation.
Legal challenges have been made against this, including in the European Court of Human Rights, and The Court of Justice of the European Union has also ruled that all EU member states must recognise the rights of same-sex spouse, but no new law has been passed. Unregistered cohabitation recognized.
Censorship of LGBT issues in Poland is no censorship.
Right to change legal gender in Poland is legal, but requires medical diagnosis.
This procedure is based on the Supreme Court decision of 22 March 1991 which interprets the sense of belonging to a gender as “a personal good”, per Article 23 of the Civil Code (1964), meaning that a suit can be brought on this basis under Article 189 of the Code. Another Supreme Court judgment of 22 September 1995 established that parents or guardians of the applicant are the defendants in the lawsuit taken.
Reports produced by Transfuzja showed that a diagnosis of “transsexualism” can be obtained through a series of tests and examinations, both psychological and physical, including head x-rays, genitalia examination and karyotype check. As there are no unified standards to diagnose a person of “transsexualism” in Poland, healthcare providers “recommend” a two-year “real life” test, during which the applicant is required to live full-time as their preferred gender, but they are not prescribed any hormonal treatment and they are still unable to change their legal status. While it is possible to receive hormonal treatment without a diagnosis, this practice can complicate legal gender recognition court procedures.
In the resolution of the Court Supreme Court (ref. no. III CZP 100/77), the court found admissible gender change without surgery. In the same judgment, the court decided that it was possible to rectify the birth certificate.
Gender-affirming care in Poland is legal.
Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Poland is not legally recognized.
LGBT discrimination in Poland is illegal in some contexts.
LGBT employment discrimination in Poland is sexual orientation and gender identity.
In 2023, the Court of Justice of the European Union declared in a case from Poland (J.K. v TP S.A., Case No. C-356/21) (2023) that freelance workers are also protected by EU law prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of "sexual orientation" in employment. In December of 2022, Joanna ?elek won her case against her employer in regards to transgender discrimination in the workplace, effectively protecting transgender people in the workplace
LGBT housing discrimination in Poland is no protections.
Same-sex adoption in Poland is single only.
Intersex infant surgery in Poland is not banned.
Serving openly in military in Poland is lesbians, gays, bisexuals permitted, transgender people banned.
Blood donations by MSMs in Poland is legal.
Conversion therapy in Poland is not banned.
Equal age of consent in Poland is equal.
LGBT Rights by Voivodship
View the LGBT laws in each individual voivodship of Poland.