Law Does Not Exclude

Who are we?

As part of the Love Does Not Exclude Association, which for 12 years has been supporting the LGBT+ community in Poland, we help people who cannot afford a lawyer.

In just our first year and a half of work we have helped over 80 LGBT+ people and financed over 50 court cases. Each month we receive more requests for support.

What we do?

We equalise the opportunities for legal protection – by helping LGBT+ people in difficult life situations to seek their rights in court.

We join forces to help more effectively – by creating a network of lawyers, and by working with partner organisations across Europe.

We rely on experts – our work is supported by an Advisory Board of people who have authority and experience in the field of human rights.

We help people understand that everyone has the right to live in dignity and safety, and that law should not exclude.. 

A mother who spent all her savings on a three-year battle for her child, because a homophobic judge considered her bisexuality to be a disease..

A transgender boy from a small town, who earned over summer only part of money needed for transition. Because of the enormous costs of unreimbursed trans specific healthcare, he no longer has the means for legal gender recognition.

An unemployed transgender girl who was cut off from most of her family after coming out, and has food and a place to live only thanks to her grandparents. She still has to sue her own parents to change the gender marker in her documents.

A group of activists who were not afraid to speak out about resolutions “against LGBT ideology,” and now face lawsuits for huge damages from local governments that try to silence them.

The story od AdelaRozwiń +

Just a few months ago I was afraid whether I would be able to handle the legal gender recognition, which in Poland involves court proceedings. You need either legal knowledge or money for a lawyer. I had neither. Today I have a judgment confirming my gender. Thanks to the professional help of the Fund, the case was closed without any problems. I am grateful that there is such an initiative which supports transgender people, because the state left us without any help. 

The story of BarbaraRozwiń +

Three years of court battles over my daughter led me into debts. During several years of divorce proceedings, the homophobic judge gave vent to her prejudices and subjected the judgement to them. She forced my ex-husband to fight for sole custody of the child despite the preliminary agreement between us, because “a wife may want to raise her daughter with another woman!” In the end, she ruled the father’s parenting skills superior, and implicitly equated my orientation with mental illness. I didn’t want to give up. Thanks to the Law Does Not Exclude Fund I am going with my case to the Court in Strasbourg. This gives me hope.

The story of SaraRozwiń +

I am very grateful to the Law Does Not Exclude Fund for helping me in my court battle to get a legal recognition of who I am and a formal correction of my metric gender. I’m still in high school, I don’t work, I don’t have any income. My mother is ill and has been unemployed for several years because of it. My foster dad and grandparents are very supportive of me and help us as much as they can. I am grateful to them for that. However, I did not expect such a willingness to help and such understanding from people who, after all, are not my family. The Fund has restored my faith in people and in society through its support, without which I would certainly have had great difficulty in dealing with the case in court. And every transgendered child in Poland has that faith shattered.

The story of Atlas of HateRozwiń +

Paulina, Kuba, Paweł, and Kamil had the courage to speak out about the fact that Polish local governments in official documents (so-called “anti-LGBT resolutions”) call for hate against LGBTIQ people and present our community as threat.

On the website “Atlas of Hate” they have shown how 1/3 of Poland has become a zone “free of LGBT ideology”, thus free of equal rights. Thanks to them, all of Europe learned about the zones. 7 local governments sued the team of “Atlas” for huge damages. This is the so-called SLAPP (strategic law suit against public participation) – an attempt to intimidate and silence people who look into the hands of the authorities. The Law No Exclude Fund is currently supporting the team of Atlas of Hate by funding legal aid and the costs of ongoing proceedings.

Paulina, Kuba, Paweł and Kamil are represented by a team of lawyers coordinated by Karolina Gierdal from the Bzdyń Gierdal Human Rights Law Office. The team also includes attorney Emilia Barabasz, attorney Alicja Szpringer, attorney Dorota Seweryn Stawarz and attorney Mikołaj Świstowski. Legal support has so far been provided by Polish Society of Anti-discrimination Law, Federacja Znaki Równości and Campaign Against Homophobia.

All of them, and many others, can fight in courts for dignity and safety, thanks to the support of the Law Does Not Exclude Fund. You can help them too.

By setting up a regular transfer for the Fund, you help with us LGBT+ people in a difficult life situation, and give them a chance to defend their rights. Help now!