The pair got married in Portugal in 2017 and have been fighting to see their union recognized in their own country
Popular Polish Youtuber couple Dawid and Jakub have announced they lost their court case to have Polish authorities recognize their marriage.
They got married in Portugal in 2017 and have been trying to get their marriage recognized in Poland ever since.
The Polish husbands took their case to a local court
After the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in favor of an American-Romanian couple in July 2018, Dawid and Jakub decided to bring their case before the local court in Warsaw.
However, Polish authorities denied their request since same-sex marriage is still not legal in Poland. The Warsaw Administrative Court ruled that there are no legal grounds within the Polish law to recognize their marriage.
The couple shared the bad news with their followers on 10 January, explaining they were hoping for a different outcome.
‘Being in court was as stressful as watching Titanic again and again,’ they told Gay Star News.
‘You know the ending, but you’re nervous and still hoping a miracle will happen.’
They explained the worst part was that they felt the judges wanted to recognize their marriage, but couldn’t because of the current laws.
An unsurprising ruling
Despite the political atmosphere, the couple had little legal grounds for their case, according to political scientist Remy Bonny.
‘The European Court of Justice Ruling could not be referred to in this case, because the content of this case was inherently different. In the Coman case, it was between a non-EU citizen and an EU-citizen married in Belgium against the Romanian authorities.’
He furthermore added: ‘The fact that a non-EU citizen was involved in the case was crucial to invoke the Freedom of Movement of People within this case. The European judge explicitly mentioned that this judgment would not interfere in member states’ domestic debate on marriage equality.’
More than 100 proposals
In 2018, the Polish couple also proposed in public more than 100 times in order to tackle homophobia in the Catholic country.
‘We loved the idea of checking people’s reactions,’ the couple told Gay Star News.
‘We bought pepper spray for self-defense and had it in our pockets. A proposal with pepper spray sounds funny, right? But luckily it wasn’t necessary.’
Despite the overall accepting attitude of bystanders, it might still be a long way before Poland recognizes same-sex couples.
by Stefania Sarrubba
Source – Gay Star News
