Poland Guilty of Gay Discrimination

Axel Hotels — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:45:37 +0000

The European Court of Human Rights, yesterday unanimously ruled that Poland had discriminated against a gay man by refusing him the right to succeed a tenancy of a flat where he had lived with his partner, whom had passed away.

Mr Piotr Kozak had been living with his partner from 1989 until 1998, when he died. The tenancy agreement was in the partner’s name and after his death, the application by Kozak to conclude a lease agreement of their flat with him was rejected.

While the Polish legislation recognizes some rights of partners living together, the Polish authorities and courts repeatedly rejected the notion that such laws apply to same-sex partners. They refused to recognise Mr Kozak’s tenancy rights by referring to Article 18 of the Polish Constitution, this defines marriage as a union of a man and a woman. Therefore, it was insisted that the only form of cohabitation which is recognised by the law is exclusively between a man and a woman.

The European Court of Human Rights disagreed with such an approach and has unanimously ruled that Poland violated Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) and Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) by refusing to recognize same-sex partners living together. The Court said that “de facto marital cohabitation” must in Poland be understood to include persons in a same-sex relationship. They also advised the country to ’strike a balance between protections of the family and the convention rights of sexual minorities. In other words, more accepting of same sex couples, pointing out there was not just one way of leading one’s private life.

“We welcome this decision of the European Court of Human Rights. This is the second decision affirming that if a State provides certain rights to cohabiting different sex partners, the same rights have to be made available equally to same-sex partners” Said Evelyne Paradis, European executive director of The International Lesbian & Gay Association. “In this case the European Court of Human Rights rejected a notion that a Constitutional definition of marriage as a union of a man and a woman can be used to justify the denial of certain family rights to cohabiting same-sex partners.”

Original Text:

http://www.gayagenda.com/2010/03/poland-guilty-of-gay-discrimination/

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Poland Guilty of Gay Discrimination