Hungary makes terrifying moves to ban same-sex adoption, claiming it’s ‘become necessary’ due to coronavirus
Hungary’s far-right president Viktor Orban shakes hands with Vladimir Putin (Yuri Kadobnov/AFP/Getty)
Hungary’s far-right government has launched a fresh attack against LGBT+ people with a ban on same-sex adoption, claiming it has “become necessary” due to COVID.
Marriage must be between a man and woman, and only people in such a union would be allowed to adopt children, according to legislation submitted to parliament on Tuesday by prime minister Viktor Orban’s government.
The government has also proposed a constitutional amendment requiring children to be raised with a Christian interpretation of gender roles.
Expanding on Twitter, the minister of family affairs Katalin Novak said the amendment would “protect the institution of marriage as the union of one man and one woman established by voluntary decision, and the family as the basis of the survival of the nation”.
“Family ties shall be based on marriage and the relationship between parents and children. The mother is female, the father is male,” she said.
She explained that the amendment reflected “contemporary challenges”, and that the change in fundamental law had become necessary “due to COVID”. She did not elaborate on why this was the case.
2/2 …and the family as the basis of the survival of the nation. Family ties shall be based on marriage and the relationship between parents and children. The mother is female, the father is male.
Fundamental Law Article L (1)
— Katalin Novák (@KatalinNovakMP) November 10, 2020
The Hatter rights group said the legislation means a ban on LGBT+ adoption, which until now has been possible if one partner applied as a single person since Hungary does not allow same-sex marriage.
“The timing is no coincidence: the proposals that severely limit legal rights and go against basic international and European human rights were submitted at a time when protests are not allowed,” the rights group said in a statement to Reuters.
Unfortunately it’s only the latest attack against the LGBT+ community from far-right leader Viktor Orban, who was granted the right to rule by decree indefinitely at the start of the pandemic.
One of his very first acts after his power grab was to strip away trans rights, replacing “gender” with “birth sex” in all legal documents issued in the country.
The effect of this is that Hungarian citizens are now unable to change their gender legally, a significant rollback of rights in the eastern European country.
