The resilience of activists in the face of ever-growing discrimination was a note of hope at a panel discussion on LGBTQ+ rights in Hungary held by DU Amnesty and QSoc on Friday the 24th of September.
The online panel was organised in collaboration with UCD Amnesty and featured Dávid Vig, the section director for Amnesty International Hungary, and lectures in human rights within the criminal justice system at Eötvös Loránd University.
Vig opened his presentation and discussion with an exploration of Hungary’s recent discriminatory legislation. Since 2010, the governing party of Hungary, Fidesz, has had a constitutional majority of two-thirds, giving it considerable power to pass legislation quickly, without much consultation.
In 2013, this power was used to limit the definition of a family to married couples. In 2011, legislation was passed stating that marriage was exclusively an institution between two people of different sexes, and by December 2020, the government introduced a final piece of legislation explicitly banning adoption for same-sex couples and single parents.
In 2020, the government passed legislation removing the legal recognition of transgender people. According to Section 33, a person’s determined biological sex at birth must be officially registered and cannot be changed later. Amnesty launched a campaign in Hungary petitioning the Ombudsman to analyse the new legislation, as he could bring this legislation to the constitutional court and explain that it is not compliant with international law. However, the Ombudsman refused to take action to protect Hungary’s transgender community.
The June 2021 legislation also limited the ability of NGOs to provide anti-bullying assistance in schools. Amnesty and other NGOs are no longer allowed to provide information about LGBTQ-phobic bullying within schools. They require special permission from government legislation to return to providing these much-needed programs, but such legislation has not been provided.
Despite the onslaught of discriminatory legislation, Vig noted that Hungary’s LGBTQ+ activists have not given up hope. After the anti-trans legislation of 2020, the Ombudsman was presented with 105,000 signatures urging him to take the legislation to the constitutional court. This indicates that there is strong support in the community and the society at large to protect transgender rights. The annual Budapest Pride march is usually disruptive due to the presence of right-wing protestors – however, this year it was deemed safe to hold the parade without fencing off the area. Almost 30,000 people attended this year, making this the most successful Budapest Pride ever.
During the Q&A session, Vig was asked if there were any signs that things are improving for the LGBTQ+ community in Hungary. He noted that the Hungarian people have not accepted the government’s hateful rhetoric blindly. A recent survey commissioned by Amnesty shows that public support for same-sex marriage has increased by 20 per cent to a total of 56 per cent, and support for both same-sex adoption and NGO programmes in schools has also increased.
The Hungarian government’s justification for censoring LGBTQ+ media is that if children see this, they will become LGBTQ+, but 83 per cent of the population believe this is untrue. For these reasons, Vig said, he felt positive about how Hungarians are responding to the campaign. However, this has not yet translated to government support.
When asked what we could do to help Hungary’s LGBTQ+ community, Vig spoke on the importance of lobbying. The Irish government must be vocal on LGBTQ+ rights both locally and abroad, and must further show political support to the European Commission on the current procedures. Vig implored attendees to ask TDs and contacts to show such support. While the Hungarian government is portrayed as too stubborn to respond to criticism from other countries, Vig stated that they still feel pressured when Amnesty groups in other states protest outside the Hungarian embassies.
Should future legislation be passed, Vig asked that we show online support through online protests and petitions. Finally, Amnesty will aim for a large presence at Budapest Pride next year. Where possible, expressing support through boots on the ground in Budapest would have a meaningful impact on Hungary’s LGBTQ+ community.
While recent legislative efforts have attempted to erode LGBTQ+ rights in Hungary, the community has not stopped fighting or lost hope.
