Hungary pushes ahead with shameless, horrific attacks on same-sex adoption and trans kids
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban. (Getty/JOHN THYS)
The Hungarian government is pressing ahead with a bill that seeks to restrict adoption to families with a “mother and a father”, continuing a wave of anti-LGBT+ actions.
The country’s nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán has overseen a slew of attacks on queer people over the past few years, pushing through a new constitution that bans same-sex unions and passing a law to end legal recognition of transgender people.
Lawmakers from Orbán’s Fidesz party have been accused of fuelling a “moral panic” on LGBT+ issues, and parliamentarians look set to push forward with the attacks even after one of their leading figures was outed as a hypocrite who flouted coronavirus rules to attend gay sex parties.
On Tuesday (15 December), the Hungarian parliament will consider a bill to ban adoption by non-married couples, seeking to amend the constitution to specify that children must have a mother and a father.
The bill also seeks to amend the constitution to “protect” the identity of “children’s sex by birth”, further entrenching the erasure of trans people.
Minister of family affairs Katalin Nova bizarrely claimed ahead of the introduction of the bill that it had “become necessary” due to the pandemic.
She wrote: “Due to COVID, a change in the Fundamental Law has become necessary. The government also initiates an amendment to reflect contemporary challenges: Hungary shall 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.”
Nationalists hold a banner reading ‘Hungary is not a tolerant country, go way deviants’ during a Hungarian gay pride parade (AFP)
Hungary’s new family law is ‘discriminatory, homophobic and transphobic’.
LGBT+ and human rights campaigners in the country have condemned the latest in a series of attacks on LGBT+ people.
Amnesty Hungary director David Vig said: “This attempt to rush through these discriminatory, homophobic and transphobic new laws are part of an ongoing attack on LGBTQ people by Hungarian authorities.
“The government is planning to adopt legislative changes that would further restrict LGBTQ rights just as they did in May when they rushed through a bill that banned legal gender recognition for transgender people. With the proposed ninth amendment to the Constitution, they would further stigmatise the transgender people in Hungary.”
He added: “Hungary’s MPs must reject these draconian provisions and Hungary’s people must come together to show that the power of love is stronger than the love of power.
“The time has come to show we will not allow hatred and exclusion from the government to strip away our rights.”
Fidesz and its allies control 132 of the 199 seats in the country’s Parliament, while another homophobic party holds 17 seats, meaning government-backed anti-LGBT+ measures are almost guaranteed to pass.
