BRUSSELS — The European Union’s highest court ruled Tuesday that all member states should honor the civil status of same-sex couples married anywhere else in the bloc, regardless of domestic laws on same-sex marriage. The ruling does not force member states to legalize same-sex marriages.
The decision stems from a legal challenge posed by Jakub Cupriak-Trojan and Mateusz Trojan, two Polish citizens who married in Berlin in 2018. When they returned to their native Poland, they sought to have their marriage certificate recognized by the country’s authorities to access health care benefits. Their request was refused on the grounds that same-sex marriage is not legal in Poland.
On Tuesday, the European Union Court of Justice ruled that Poland’s refusal to accept German documents proving Cupriak-Trojan and Trojan were legally married violated their right to freedom of movement within the bloc by restricting their access to legal rights granted to them elsewhere in the European Union. Under E.U. law, European citizens are able to travel freely and reside in any E.U. country.
“There is a genuine risk that those citizens will face serious obstacles in regulating their family life upon their return,” without the recognition they were accorded elsewhere in the bloc, the court ruled. The two men would “be unable, in many aspects of everyday life — both in the public and in the private spheres — to rely on their marital status, even though that status has been lawfully established in the host Member State.”
The plaintiffs welcomed the outcome.
“The CJEU’s judgment is a milestone and opens a new chapter in the fight for the same-sex couples’ rights in Poland,” the couple’s lawyers, Paweł Knut and Artur Kula, said in a statement. “From now on, the transcription of same-sex marriage certificates in such cases as our clients’ is mandatory.”
Rather than force E.U. countries to legalize same-sex marriage, the ruling requires them to recognize certificates issued by other countries within the bloc, in the same way that they would for heterosexual couples. In Poland, relevant authorities barred Cupriak-Trojan and Trojan from accessing certain benefits offered to heterosexual couples by declining to recognize their marriage documents.
“The lack of a procedure for recognition equivalent to that granted to heterosexual couples constitutes discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation,” the court ruled.
The European branch of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, a rights group, ranks Poland as among the lowest scorers in the European Union in terms of impacts of public policy on LGBTI people.
E.U. rulings set legal precedent, and members of the bloc are expected to respect them — though some have refused to do so. Noncompliance can result in fines.
“This case marks a significant step towards the protection of same-sex couples across the E.U., notably in countries that still do not provide any legal recognition and protection to same-sex couples, such as Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Lithuania and Poland,” ILGA-Europe said in a statement. “The judgment also highlighted the practical difficulties faced by same-sex couples in all areas of life when their relationship is not recognised, such as access to benefits, pensions, taxation, property, social security, employment, inheritance, recognition of a married name, and parental rights.”
The E.U. has long negotiated tensions over socially conservative dissent against liberal norms established in Brussels. Hungary’s Viktor Orban has been the foremost of such critics. This year, he attempted to ban LGBTQ+ pride parades. Hungary allows civil unions but not gay marriage, and it restricts adoptions by same-sex couples.
Tuesday’s ruling is not the first time the E.U.’s top court has cited the principle of freedom of movement when mandating that countries recognize LGBTQ+ rights granted elsewhere in the bloc.
Adrian Coman, a Romanian citizen, and Clai Hamilton, a U.S. citizen, married in Brussels in 2010. Romanian authorities did not recognize their marriage, making it impossible for Hamilton to get a residency permit after Coman decided to move back to the country. The court ruled in 2018 that within the E.U., in terms of the exercise of freedom of movement rights, the term “spouse” was gender neutral, thereby granting residence rights equal to heterosexual couples.
Poland was among the countries to file a brief in support of Romania’s position in the case.
Romania failed to comply with the ruling. In 2020, Coman and Hamilton filed a complaint before the European Court of Human Rights, accusing Romanian authorities of continuing to violate their rights. The case remains to be heard.
Klimentov reported from Washington.
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