Transsexual rights have been the subject of the fight against Polish LGBTQ environments for years.Source: Wikimedia Commons. licence – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Aike 4.0 International. Author – Silar
There are many difficulties and discomforts in the administrative space of those who do not identify themselves with the sex attributed at birth. The laws and procedures in Poland and the way the offices operate can be a challenge for transgender and non-binary people. How does the law include transgender persons? Does the government plan to improve on this? What do politicians gotta say about this?
Transgender and non-binar people face many difficulties in their regular functioning. Procedures related to the handling of administrative matters in offices or courts usually do not take into account the comfort of persons not identified with sex attributed at birth. In many situations this can lead to unpleasant situations. Transgender and non-binary persons are exposed to dysphoria in specified situations. It is simply a feeling of discomfort and intellectual suffering associated with feeling your body and social functioning as incompatible with the identity of a person.
In terms of the comfort of transgender persons, 1 of the most criticized by LGBTQ+ rights activists is the legal correction of sex data. In Poland there are separate provisions governing the legal determination of gender. The courts are guided by the case law of another Polish and global courts. In this case, the ultimate Court ruling of 22 March 1991 was peculiarly important. That judgement indicated that in the case of transgender persons the change in authoritative data indicating sex may be made on the basis of Article 189 k.p.c. This evidence states that the individual bringing proceedings in civilian proceedings may "require the court to establish the existence or non-existence of a legal or legal relationship". Later rulings of the ultimate Court clarified the process of legal determination of gender. The 1995 ultimate Court ruling indicates that a transgender individual must sue his parents in order to change his sex data. However, bringing specified an action is not the only step. Opinions on transgenderity by a doctor with specialization in sexology or psychiatry and a individual with intellectual education specialising in sexology are besides essential conditions for judicial determination of gender. In addition, the individual making the claim must not be married. This is due to the fact that in Poland marriages of 1 sex are not legally allowed.
The process of sex reconciliation is complicated and its course depends on many factors. Circumstances, specified as the parents' inadmissibility, the appointment by the court of experts and the request for additional research, despite the sexual opinion provided, or the presence in the prosecutor's trial, may importantly impede the conduct of proceedings and prolong the change of data. The course of the court case itself can take up to 2 years. The authors of the transit.pl initiative, which promotes cognition about transgenderness and transit, indicate that due to the deficiency of legal regulation, "the course and dimension of the process cannot be full predicted".
When there are so many circumstances, cases concerning the judicial correction of sex may frequently rise concerns about the breach of the dignity of persons requesting a change of data. In any cases, the Ombudsman is active in matters of legal determination of sex. In November 2023, he reported in the trial for legal sex correction in the case of a transgender man in a court of law in Poznań. The RPO's office, informing about its accession to the case, wrote that the Ombudsman "anti-abuses violations of rights and freedoms [transgender persons], including by seeking protection from discrimination" and that "the right of a transgender individual to function in accordance with his/her sex identity" is simply a "fundamental individual right".
In the latest decision, on March 4, 2025, the civilian Chamber of the ultimate Court concluded that transgender persons did not gotta sue their parents for judicial determination of sex. The procedure, according to the resolution, is to take place in a non-process mode. It is hard to foretell precisely what the legal procedure of the sex agreement will look like after this decision. For transgender people, however, this is simply a breakthrough.
A hard administrative situation meets non-binarians who do not identify with the female and male sex. The Polish State does not recognise specified a sex identity, so it cannot be indicated in authoritative documents. any countries already recognise neutral sex markings. In Germany, specified a provision was introduced in 2024, Iceland in 2019 and Malta in 2018. However, there is inactive no specified anticipation in Poland.
Possible changes
There has already been an effort to introduce a statutory regulation of the procedure of judicial sex determination. In July 2015, the Polish Sejm passed a bill that would simplify the judicial procedures for sex correction. According to the draft, the legal determination of sex was to take place in non-trial mode, so a transgender individual would not gotta sue his own parents. Applications were to be examined by the territory Court in Łódź, the individual submitting the application would be accompanied by 2 opinions on transgenderness, issued by doctors. This task was supported by many NGOs active in the field of human rights. Amnesty global then stated that the Act "guarantees transparent, reliable and easy accessible sex designation procedures and adapts Polish government on the legal designation of transsexual persons to European standards". The AI besides stated that the task "is a milestone in the implementation of the right to the protection of private life and self-determination" of transgender persons. Despite this, in October 2015, president Andrzej Duda vetoed the bill claiming that it was “full of gaps and inaccuracies”, as stated in the release of the President's Chancellery.
However, the hope of transgenders for change was raised by the declaration of the Minister for Equality, Catherine Kotuli. On 28 February, during a conference held at the individual Data Protection Office, the Minister announced that the Department of Equal Treatment had plans to prepare a sex agreement bill. She stated that this task was next after the Partnerships Act. In December 2024, Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar commented on the sex knowing Act. He supported the creation of specified a bill and said that the task was the subject of his talks with Minister Kotula. Despite the announcements at this moment, there are no details of possible solutions to be included in the bill.
In addition, difficulties in implementing a possible sex agreement law may arise erstwhile attempting to get support in the Sejm. The Polish People's Party, without which it is hard to get a parliamentary majority, is characterized by a conservative approach towards the LGBTQ+ community. Already during the proceedings of the draft law on partnerships, the organization did not support the form of the changes proposed by Lewica. The Citizen Coalition, on the another hand, does not offer a uniform position on the issue of data change by transgenders.
Transgender law in Poland raises many controversy and criticism. Although the changes in it are planned this modification of specified government may take time. The subject of transgenderism discussed during the election run and the opposition of politicians and politicians on the right side of the political scene may consequence in delayed work or a failure of a possible draft amendment. The fresh ultimate Court decision shows that transgender persons are deprived of a unchangeable legal environment in the fight for fundamental rights concerning their identity.
Leo Targoni
