Published on 20 June 2022
FIRST SECTION
Application no. 53662/20
Bartholomew Kyle ANDERSEN
against Poland
lodged on 18 November 2020
communicated on 1 June 2022
SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE
The application concerns impossibility to register in Poland the marriage contracted by the applicant and his same-sex partner in the United Kingdom. On 7 May 2016 the applicant married his partner in Covwy, UK.
On 13 February 2017 the applicant requested the Goszczyszyn Civil Status Office to register his marriage contracted abroad. On 23 February 2017 the authorities refused as entering a same-sex marriage in the Polish Registry would be contrary to “basic principles of the Polish law”. On 19 May 2017 the Mazowiecki Governor (Wojewoda Mazowiecki) upheld the decision. The applicant appealed to a court. On 3 November 2017 the Warsaw Regional Administrative Court dismissed their appeal. The applicant appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court which, on 25 February 2020, dismissed his cassation appeal. The judgment was notified to the applicant on 21 May 2020.
The applicant complains under Article 8 of the Convention that the Polish legal system does not allow him to marry or otherwise recognise his relationship. The applicant further complains that his marriage contracted abroad was not recognised by the Polish authorities. This amounts to discrimination on the grounds of his sexual orientation in breach of Article 14 in conjunction with Article 8 of the Convention.
QUESTIONS TO THE PARTIES
1. Was the interference with the applicant’s right to respect for his private and family life, namely the refusal to register his marriage contracted abroad, in accordance with the law and necessary in terms of Article 8 § 2?
2. Has there been a violation of the applicant’s right to respect for his private and family life, contrary to Article 8 of the Convention, in particular in so far as he had no other possibility to have his relationship recognised by Polish law?
3. In what specific ways is the applicant disadvantaged by the lack of any legal recognition of his relationship?
4. Has the applicant suffered discrimination in the enjoyment of his Convention rights on the ground of his sexual orientation, contrary to Article 14 of the Convention in conjunction with Article 8 of the Convention in respect of his inability to (i) register his marriage contracted abroad and (ii) enter into any other type of civil union recognising his relationship in Poland?
Reference is made to the cases of Orlandi and Others v. Italy, nos. 26431/12 and 3 others, 14 December 2017 and Oliari and Others v. Italy, nos. 18766/11 and 36030/11, 21 July 2015.