Hungary bans adoption by same-sex couples, rights groups call it 'dark day for humanity'

Hungarian lawmakers on December 15 passed a law banning same-sex couples from adopting children triggering widespread criticism from Human rights groups on December 16. The conservative government of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban had proposed the legislation earlier this year and his Fidesz party already has a two-thirds majority in the parliament. The newly-passed law not only alters the constitutional definition of the families but also excludes transgenders along with other individuals of the LGBTQ+ community.

Hungarian legislation defined the basis of the family as “marriage and the parent-child relationship” while declaring that “the mother is a woman and the father is a man”. These changes were the latest one in the series of moves by the far-right party which are reportedly termed by the critics as hostile to LGBTQ+ rights. Hungarian PM has previously already said that he was building an “illiberal” Christian democracy. 

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Human rights group condemns the decision

As per the Associated Press report, the director of rights group Amnesty Hungary David Vig called the passage of the entire amendment “a dark day for human rights”. The law was passed in the Hungarian parliament despite the opposition boycotting vote in protest against the changes. While same-sex marriage was constitutionally banned in Hungary since 2012, civil partnerships were recognised. However, the new amendment allowed only married couples to adopt children and thus it effectively bars same-sex couples or single individuals from doing the same. 

Moreover, the amendment even orders the states to protect “the right of children to self-identity according to their sex at birth” and says that children should grow up in “accordance with the values based on Hungary’s constitutional identity and Christian culture.” In a press release, the organisers of Hungary’s largest LGBTQ+ event, Budapest Pride, said that the entire move reflects the ‘hypocrisy’ of Fidesz’s Christian conservatism.

“It reveals what kind of behaviour Fidesz considers ideal from society’s gay, lesbian and bisexual members: a double life built upon lies which displays the desired Christian-conservative heterosexual family model while actively working to deprive members of the LGBTQ community of their rights,” the group wrote.

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Image: AP