[7] In 2019, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the provision of Polish Petty Offence Code, which made it illegal to deny goods and services without "a just cause", was unconstitutional.

[19] Encouraged by national PiS politicians,[19] by April 2020[update], 100 municipalities (including five voivodships), encompassing about a third of the country, informally declared themselves "LGBT-free zones".

Opinion polls on the public perception of LGBTQ rights in Poland have been contradictory, with many showing large support for registered partnerships,[22] and some indicating a majority of opponents.

According to lawyer Monika Płatek, these provisions were applied very broadly to homosexual couples to prevent them living together; any type of gift or paying for a partner's food, clothing, or lodging could be interpreted as prostitution.

Although kept secret and devoid of legal recognition, their commitment was founded on loyalty, the presumption of permanence, and a 'friendship for life oath' that included vows never to separate, to defend and support each other, and to maintain the confidentiality of their relationship.

The major opposition to introducing same-sex marriages or civil unions comes from the Roman Catholic Church, which is influential politically, holding a considerable degree of influence in the state.

[39] The High Court later issued an opinion stating that the bills proposed by the Democratic Left Alliance, Your Movement and Civic Platform were all unconstitutional, as Article 18 of the Constitution protects marriage.

But some analysts say that even if the bill is passed, it may still get vetoed by conservative president Andrzej Duda, who previously described the LGBT movement as "a foreign ideology" and comparing it to indoctrination in the Soviet Union.

Examining recent anti-discrimination cases, legal scholar Marcin Górski found that "the principle of equal treatment in Poland appears generally ineffective".

[6] In June 2018, the Polish Supreme Court ruled that a Łódź printer acted illegally when he refused to print banners for an LGBT business group.

The court also ruled that sexual orientation, race or other features of a person cannot be the basis for refusal to offer a service, but that freedom of conscience and religion must also be taken into account.

[74] In November 2024, the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk agreed to legislation which would add sexual orientation, gender, age and disability into the country's existing hate speech laws.

[80] In February 2019, Modern MPs alongside Campaign Against Homophobia activists submitted a draft bill to the Sejm to ban gay conversion therapy.

[81][82] Such a ban would implement the recommendation of the European Parliament[83] and United Nations Independent Expert on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

As "risk behaviours" can be performed by a person regardless of gender or sexuality, that ensured legal right for queer people to donate blood as long as they have met other requirements.

[94] In 2010, an IIBR opinion poll conducted for Newsweek Poland found that 43% of Poles agreed that openly gay people should be banned from military service.

[99] An Ipsos survey in October 2019 found that a majority of Polish men under 40 believe that "the LGBT movement and gender ideology" is the "biggest threat facing them in the 21st century".

[122] The 2023 Eurobarometer found that 50% of Polish people thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe (45% disagreed), and 55% agreed that "there is nothing wrong in a sexual relationship between two persons of the same sex".

While the current the Civic Platform was strongly disapproving towards LGBT legislation when it was the ruling party in Poland in 2007–2015, as of late its leaders have started expressing more favourable stances towards the community.

In December 2020, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatović, stated that she was "deeply concerned about the propagation of negative and inflammatory homophobic narratives by many public officials in Poland, including people in the highest ranks of government... Stigmatisation and hate directed at certain individuals or groups of people carry a real risk of legitimising violence, sometimes with fatal consequences.

"[132] On 7 August 2006, Paweł Zyzak, editor in chief of a PiS magazine, Right Turn!, wrote that homosexuals were "animals" and "the emissaries of Satan sent to destroy the Catholic Church".

The address featured a wedding photograph of an Irish gay rights activist, Brendan Fay and Tom Moulton, which Kaczyński had not sought permission to use.

The presidential address outraged left-wing political parties and gay rights activists, who subsequently invited the two to Poland and demanded apologies from the President, which he did not issue.

[citation needed] On 19 May 2006, Mirosław Orzechowski, Deputy Minister of Education, stated that an international project organized by LGBT NGOs and financially supported by the European Commission Youth Programme would lead to the "depravity of young people".

[132] On 8 June 2006, Roman Giertych, the Deputy Prime Minister of Poland and Minister of Education, dismissed Mirosław Sielatycki, the director of the National In-Service Teacher Training Centre, because "a lot of books were encouraging teachers to organize meetings with LGBT non-governmental organizations such as Campaign Against Homophobia or Lambda" and because "these books were criticising the legal situation in most European countries, including Poland, in relation to non-recognition of gay marriage as being a form of discrimination".

The pollster asked respondents if they agreed with Minister Giertych's statements:[155] In February 2019, Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, member of the Civic Platform, signed a 12-point LGBT declaration.

[172] During the coronavirus pandemic in April 2020, several LGBT activists began handing out rainbow facemasks in Gdańsk, Gdynia and Sopot, as a direct protest of the "LGBT-free zones".

[173] In July 2020, the town council of Nieuwegein, a Dutch city south of Utrecht, voted to end its friendship with Puławy in eastern Poland, citing "gay free zones" as the reason.

"[179] According to a December 2020 report by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, "Far from being merely words on paper, these declarations and charters directly impact the lives of LGBTI people in Poland.

[180] In 2004 and 2005, Warsaw officials denied permission to organize it, because of various reasons including the likelihood of counter-demonstrations, interference with religious or national holidays, and the lack of a permit.