The strategic issue of the LGBT rights movement in Poland involves a shortage of co-ordinated advocacy, information, and educational activities as concerns same-sex couples access to marriage. The Families by Choice study of the Institute of Psychology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2014) proved that approximately one million persons in Poland live as partners in same-sex relationships. Attempts to legalise common-law marriage in the years 2004/2009/2013 were unsuccessful, the fiasco attributable to a number of factors: poor public opinion and parliamentary support, weakness of the LGBTQIA community, and the lack of co-ordinated activities.
The purpose of the project was to design a multiannual strategy to make marital equality part of the Polish legal order, and to develop a network of individuals and institutions engaging in joint action to that end.
The project resulted in the joint drafting of the Strategy to Introduce Marital Equality in Poland in the Years 2016-2025, including a relevant legal (draft law), information-and-education, and advocacy tool kit.
The strategy design process was preceded with research concerning marital equality attitudes, proving that more than 55% of the society are in favour of legalising same-sex relationships in some form. A Legal Group was formed to draft scenarios of introducing marital equality in Poland. A Marriage Act was drafted, justification included; a programme of strategic litigation to formalise same-sex relationships was designed. Action was taken to consolidate the LGBTQIA community: 2 Organisation Forum meetings and 5 debate workshops were held.
The Association supported Equality Marches throughout the country. The Marital Equality. Manual for Beginners textbook was published and distributed.
Project beneficiaries included 25 organisations/ informal groups attending Forum and strategy design meetings, and 108 participants of debate sessions. Social media content reached more than ten thousand recipients.