Przegląd Europejski (Aug 2022)
Unity in diversity and the EU Member States’ regulations on the rights of the LGBT people
Abstract
The aim of this article is to analyse the differences in the regulation of LGBT rights in the Member States of the European Union. The evolution of legal provisions in individual Member States is compared. The considerations also include the date of accession to the European Community / European Union and the regulations adopted by states for the LGBT community. These issues should be considered as important, taking into account the Copenhagen criteria that a given country has to meet when joining the EU. The question was asked in this research is whether and at what pace the regulations on same-sex partnerships corresponded in individual countries with the introduction of other postulates concerning the LGBT community. Attention was paid to the issue related to the date of accession of the Member States to the European Union. In the context of the sensitive social and political discourse in Poland regarding the consequences of such regulations, the regulations in the countries that joined the EU in 2004 with Poland were analysed. The main hypothesis is that the adoption of same-sex marriage regulations in the EU is not a necessary consequence of previously legalising same-sex partnerships. The introduction to the analysis is the presentation of the Copenhagen criteria, i.e., the guidelines that open the way to joining the structures of the European Union, as well as the international postulates of the LGBT community. Considering the dynamics of introduced regulations in Europe and in the world, and at the same time, treating them in Poland in controversial categories, the most discussed topics were selected. These topics include same-sex partnerships and marriage, and the adoption of children by same-sex couples.
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