WARSAW — Jakub Kwiecins and Dawid had been together for nearly seven years, living rather anonymous lives as a couple in Warsaw until their 15 minutes of Internet fame arrived last July after posting their own version of Roxette's hit ''Some Other Summer'".

And while the exuberant clip prompted articles in the international LGBTQ media, in their native Poland, it generated mainly hate. "Maybe I was being naive, but we did not expect that at all," says Kwiecins, who prefers to just use his first name. "The most painful is that we live among such people. I think that we both became less patriotic."

But in an ironic twist, thanks to the wave of hate aimed at them last summer in Poland, the couple will now be able to get married — in Portugal. With gay marriage banned in Poland, and Polish authorities refusal to grant the documents necessary to tie the knot in Portugal, the local government on the Portuguese island of Madeira agreed to officiate the wedding without the proper paperwork after having seen the onslaught of homophobia the couple faced in their native country.

Not surprisingly, the marriage certificate won't mean much in the eyes of the Polish government — a reminder that the distances separating Europe are vast indeed.

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