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Same-sex sexual activity legal? Legal since 1961,
age of consent equalized in 2002 Gender identity/expression Gender change is legal. Military service Gays and lesbians allowed to serve Discrimination protections Sexual orientation and gender identity protections (see below) Recognition of
relationships Unregistered cohabitation since 1996,
Registered partnerships since 2009 Restrictions: Same-sex marriage constitutionally banned | ||
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) people in Hungary have evolved through Hungarian history. Homosexuality is legal in Hungary for both men and women.
Contents
Law regarding same-sex sexual activity
The first Hungarian penal code by Károly Csemegi (1878) punished homosexuality between men ("természet elleni fajtalanság" – unnatural perversion) with prison up to 1 year. Homosexual activity above the age of 20 was decriminalized in 1961, then above the age of 18 in 1978 by the new penal code. The age of consent, which is 14, has applied equally to heterosexual and homosexual activity since a Constitutional Court decision of 2002. Gay and bisexual people are not banned from military service.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Unregistered cohabitation has been recognised since 1996. It applies to any couple living together in an economic and sexual relationship (common-law marriage), including same-sex couples. No official registration is required. The law gives some specified rights and benefits to two persons living together. Unregistered cohabitation is defined in the Civil Code as "Cohabitation means when two persons are living together outside of wedlock in an emotional and financial community in the same household, provided that neither of them is engaged in wedlock or partnership with another person, registered or otherwise, and that they are not related in direct line, and they are not siblings." Inheritance is possible only with testament, widow-pension is available for couples cohabiting for more than 10 years.
Adoption by individuals is legal regardless of sexual orientation, but same-sex couples cannot jointly adopt, or adopt their partner's biological child. One poll indicated that 30 percent of the Hungarian public supported same-sex marriage. However, according to a Eurobarometer survey published on December 2006, only 18 percent of Hungarians surveyed supported same-sex marriage, and only 13 percent recognized a same-sex couple's right to adopt, compared to the EU-wide average of 44 percent and 33 percent, respectively.
On 17 December 2007 the Parliament adopted a registered partnership bill submitted by the Hungarian Socialist Party-Alliance of Free Democrats government. Since 1 July 2009 same-sex couples can enter into registered partnerships. The law gives the same rights to registered partners as to spouses except for adoption, surrogacy or taking a surname.
On 1 January 2012, a new constitution enacted by the government of Viktor Orbán, leader of the ruling Fidesz party, came into effect, restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples and containing no guarantees of protection from discrimination on account of sexual orientation. Note, however, that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation remains banned through statute, even if it is not constitutionally banned.
Adoption and family planning
Although same-sex couples cannot adopt, lesbian couples can get access to IVF and donor insemination.
Discrimination protections
In 2000, the Constitutional Court recognized that the Constitutional ban on discrimination based on "other status" covers sexual orientation as well. There exists an anti-discrimination law in the Act on Public Health since 1997. The 2003 Act on Equal Treatment and the Promotion of Equal Opportunities forbids discrimination based on factors that include sexual orientation and gender identity in the fields of employment, education, housing, health, and access to goods and services.
Transgender rights
Transgender people living in Hungary can change their legal gender. They still have to get a diagnosis, but they don't have to go through hormone therapy or mandatory genital surgery.
Living conditions
Hungary was the host country of Mr Gay Europe 2007 contest and the Eurogames in 2012.
Budapest Pride was the first such event in the former Eastern Bloc, and draws a steady, but moderate number of LGBT people and their supporters. The LGBT festival lasts a week every summer with a film festival, pride march and parties across the city. The Festival was opened in the past by notable public figures including Gábor Demszky, then mayor of Budapest, and Kinga Göncz, then minister of foreign affairs.