By Declan Carey
A LAW effectively banning same-sex couples from adopting children in Hungary has led to anger and hopelessness among the LGBTQIA+ community according to a Budapest NGO.
The Háttér Society campaigned against the legislation put forward by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing government which passed on 15 December.
The law prohibits adoption for non-married couples and amended the constitution to say the mother is female and the father is male.
Háttér Society board member Luca Dudits told Redaction Politics: “Since the decision there has been anger and hopelessness in the LGBTQI community.
“Family adoption is in the hands of the minister for families Katalin Novák who is a notorious homophobe.
“She has been speaking against same-sex adoption for years, not publicly but at private events.
“We don’t think this is a fair process, government procedures should be involving institutions that have been dealing with this for decades.
“The amendment saying the mother is a woman and the father is man is transphobic because they could argue it is unconstitutional to have same-sex parents.
“It means that children in foster homes will stay longer in the system which is not good at all.
“It will stop more children having a safe home and there is a chance that more children will be adopted abroad and stripped from their cultural identity which can impact them.”
Dudits added that Háttér Society has already supported two same-sex families whose applications to adopt were rejected for unknown reasons despite the law not coming into force until 1 March.
Similar anti-LGBTQIA+ laws were passed last year including restrictions targeting the transgender community.
Transgender Europe executive director Masen Davis said: “We are deeply concerned for the health and safety of trans children and adults in Hungary in such a hostile climate.
“We call upon EU Commission President von der Leyen to address the rights of LGBT parents, the attempt to erase gender diverse children, and the ban on legal gender recognition in the Commission’s rule of law assessment and on-going Article 7 TEU proceedings against Hungary.”
Rainbow Europe ranks Hungary and Bulgaria joint bottom out of EU countries for legal gender recognition.
The Hungarian embassy in London was contacted for comment.
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