Original source: http://www.thenews.pl/internation...crimination-at-registry-offices.html

Minister for equality, Elzbieta Radziszewska will be seeking a change in the law so certificates can be issued in Poland allowing same-sex couples to get married abroad.

TVP public television is reporting that Minister Radziszewska will be seeking a change in the law following the European Commission announcing last month that it will be examining the functioning of Polish registry offices to see if they are discriminating against gays and lesbians who want to enter into civil partnerships outside of Poland in countries.

Currently, Poland only issues the certificates to heterosexual couples. The proposed law will not require someone wanting to obtain the certificate to give the name of their partner.

The Campaign Against Homophobia says it has numerous examples of gay and lesbians being refused the certificate so they could marry in the UK, Spain, the Netherlands or other countries where same-sex civil unions are legal.

The move will come as a surprise to many as Minister Radziszewska, as minister for equality, has not shown much sympathy for gays and lesbians in the past.

In October, Radziszewska told the Gosc Niedzielny daily, that a Roman Catholic school should have the right to sack a lesbian teacher or refuse to employ one in the first place of they are open about their sexuality.

She said that discrimination against gay teachers in religious schools is in accordance with Poland’s labour code and EU law, which allows religious institutions to refuse to employ a person who has different ethics from those of the institution.

In March, the Diversity Workshop wrote a letter to Prime Minister Donald Tusk calling for the minister to be sacked.

"Mrs. Radziszewska is not fulfilling her legal duties, she is not interested co-operation with non-governmental organizations fighting the discrimination of LGBTQ persons, she is not qualified to deal with these issues, and not interested in acquiring competence […]. She affirms the current state and is homophobic herself […] we call to remove Mrs. Elzbieta Radziszewska from her position," said the letter.

The Democratic Left Alliance’s Katarzyna Piekarska, who is for same-sex marriages says that the move by the Polish government is being made with “one eye on the general election” later this year.

Piekarska told TVP, however, that whatever the motives, the SLD will be supporting the change in law. (pg)