Kraków’s new mayor will not grant patronage to Equality March — Notes from Poland

Kraków’s new mayor in Poland, Łukasz Gibała, has stated that the city authorities will not grant official patronage to the annual Equality March. He explained this by saying that, in his view, the event has become too party-political.

As Notes from Poland reports, Gibała won the election for mayor of Kraków and is due to take office next week. In an interview with local radio station Radio Kraków, he said that he would avoid patronage of events that have a party-political character.

The new mayor’s position

According to Gibała, the community of Equality March organisers has become party-political over approximately the last three years. He noted that he meant people who ran for parliament and local government bodies on the lists of specific political parties.

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At the same time, the mayor-elect stressed that he had previously taken part in Equality Marches himself and does not regret it. During the election campaign, he also said that, as an MP, he supported introducing civil partnerships for same-sex couples in Poland and has not changed this position.

The march and marriage registration

The Equality March in Kraków was first held in 2004 and gathers thousands of participants every May. In 2021, the then mayor of the city, Jacek Majchrowski, became its honorary patron, while in 2024 Mayor Aleksander Miszalski became the first head of Kraków to attend the event.

Gibała also stated that the city will continue entering same-sex marriages concluded abroad into the civil status register. The Polish government issued the relevant regulation following a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, although Polish law still does not recognise any form of same-sex union. According to the Ministry of Digital Affairs, 516 such marriages have been registered in Poland, including 46 in Kraków.