Both male and female same-sex sexual activity were decriminalized in , when the country introduced an equal age of consent for homosexuals and heterosexuals, which was set at A majority of the Polish population is affiliated with the Catholic Church , and as such, public perception and acceptance of the LGBTQ community are strongly influenced by Catholic moral doctrines. Article 18 of the Polish Constitution states that "Marriage, as a union of a man and a woman, shall be placed under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland.
While ahead of the Polish parliamentary election , the ruling Law and Justice PiS party had taken an anti-migrant stance, and in the run-up to the Polish parliamentary election , PiS focused on countering alleged Western "LGBT ideology". There is a visible gay scene with clubs all around the country, most of them located in large urban areas. There are also several gay rights organizations, the two biggest ones being the Campaign Against Homophobia and Lambda Warszawa. Opinion polls on the public perception of LGBTQ rights in Poland have been contradictory, with many showing large support for registered partnerships, [ 22 ] and some indicating a majority of opponents.
Many left-wing and liberal political parties, namely the New Left , Labour Union , the Social Democratic Party , Modern , Together and Spring , have expressed support for the gay rights movement.
Legalization of same-sex partnerships is also a part of political programme of Civic Coalition and the Third Way for the parliamentary elections. During the Partitions of Poland — and the German occupation of Poland — , laws prohibiting homosexuality were imposed on the territory that makes up the current Polish state. Following World War I , same-sex activity continued to be formally criminalized in now-independent Poland, because the penal codes of the Russian Empire , the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austria-Hungarian Empire remained in power.
The new Polish Penal Code of Kodeks karny decriminalized consensual same-sex acts. In during the Polish People's Republic , age of consent was set to 15, equal to that of heterosexual partners. Homosexuality was removed from the list of diseases in There is no legal recognition of same-sex couples in Poland, though cohabiting same-sex couples do enjoy certain limited benefits, namely in the tenancy of a shared household, the right not to testify against the partner and residency rights under EU law.
