On Thursday, July 2, representatives of the Center of Life and household and the Institute of Ordo Iuris submitted over 62.5 1000 signatures to the President's Chancellery of the Republic of Poland under the appeal "Stop the Partnership Unions". Signatories ask president Karol Nawrocki to reject the alleged "closer status" Act adopted by the Sejm, which the organisers of the shares specify straight as a law on partnerships under the changed name.
Marcin Perłowski, manager of the Centre for Life and Family, recalled before submitting that civic mobilization on this issue has been taking place almost since the beginning of the current parliamentary term. “As shortly as the current word of office of the government began, in early 2024, we launched the petition “Stop the Partnership Unions” due to the fact that the government announced that it would want to introduce into Polish law an institution that would imitate matrimony and give couples – especially single-sex couples – akin privileges as marriage”, Perłowski said.
As he reported, the signatures under the appeal flowed down 2 roads: through a specially prepared website of the Association.pl and in conventional form. A large part of the votes collected are hand-written signatures on individual cards that the signatories sent to the organisers of the shares. It was these documents, collected in many packages, that were presented to journalists before they were transferred to the Chancellery of the President.
From ‘partner relationships’ to ‘closer status’
The manager of the Life and household Centre pointed out the evolution that the government's thought of institutionalization of partnerships had undergone in 2 years. The petition initially called for the veto of president Andrzej Duda, and after a change to the office of the head of state, its addressee became president Karol Nawrocki. The task itself, as Marcin Perłowski put it, was besides changing at the time the law "re-painted" and yet took the form of a law on the position of the nearest person.
However, in the opinion of the petition initiators, changing the name does not change the substance of the regulation. The authors of the appeal point out that the solutions adopted by the Sejm conflict with Article 18 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, which defines matrimony as a union between a female and a man, who stay under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland. Introduction to the legal strategy of the institution giving couples – including single-sex couples – privileges akin to married couples means de facto circumventing the constitutional rule and weakening the position of matrimony in the Polish legal order.
"Step to destruct the institution of marriage"
Marcin Perłowski stressed that the concerns of the signatories of the appeal concern not only the current form of the law, but above all the direction in which it operates Polish household law. "We consider – and all the signatories think so, and there are over 62.5 1000 of them – that this law is actually a step towards destroying the institution of matrimony in Polish law. In the future, its consequence will be to let couples of the same sex to marry, as well as adopt children," warned Perłowski.
This argument corresponds to the experience of Western European countries, which the appeal's authors cite. They point out that the institutionalisation of partnerships has frequently proved to be a specified introduction of the alleged "marriage equality", including the right to adopt children by single-sex couples. Signatories besides point out that the weakening of the institution of matrimony occurs erstwhile the demographic crisis is worsening, erstwhile the state should alternatively strengthen sustainable families alternatively than make legal alternatives for them.
Call for a presidential veto
Finally, the manager of the Center for Life and household directed a direct call to the head of state. "We do not agree to this, and we do not want specified solutions to appear in the Polish legal system. That is why present we are submitting 62.5 1000 signatures to president Karol Nawrocki with a call for veto against this bill," declared Marcin Perłowski.
The Centre of Life and household and the Ordo Iuris Institute call for the president of Poland to stay a guardian of constitutional order and reject solutions leading to legalization of alleged partnerships. At the same time, they remind us that the protection of matrimony as a union between a female and a man and the support of permanent families is simply a constitutional work of the state and, at the same time, a condition for effectively tackling the demographic crisis. The decision on the Act on the position of the nearest individual is now up to president Karol Nawrocki.
The signatures submitted on Thursday are to be, as the petitioners stressed, a clear signal that citizens anticipate the head of the state to exercise the right of veto and to hold changes that would permanently transform Polish household law.
Photos: Tomasz Daniluk Ordo Iuris
