Kraków Equality March

Kraków's Marsz Równości (Equality March) is one of Poland's oldest, first held in 2004 and for years one of its most contested: far-right groups have shown up against it many times, and police still keep the two sides apart. It is organized by the Queerowy Maj association as the closing act of its May festival, timed close to 17 May, the international day against homophobia.

The march starts in the afternoon outside the National Museum and winds through the Old Town and across the Main Market Square. In 2025 the route went along Karmelicka and Szewska, through the Rynek and down to plac Wolnica in Kazimierz; in 2026 it ran past Wawel towards Rynek Podgórski. It is free, and anyone can walk.

Politics around it have shifted. On 17 May 2025, at the 21st march, under the slogan "Kraków Miastem Queerów Polskich", Mayor Aleksander Miszalski became the first Kraków mayor to give the march his patronage and walk in it. About 5,000 people took part, according to preliminary figures reported by PAP. A pro-life group protested at the start, and police separated members of Młodzież Wszechpolska from marchers on the square. The 22nd march followed on Saturday 23 May 2026 under the slogan "Nie rzucim ziemi", a line from Maria Konopnicka's patriotic poem Rota, with the mayor and the deputy voivode as honorary patrons. We couldn't find a 2026 turnout figure. The 2027 date hadn't been announced when we checked.