In Hungary Orban wants to change the constitution to ban lgbt + adoptions

As the country returned to lockdown due to Covid-19, Viktor Orban's ultra-conservative government presented constitutional amendments to parliament that once again penalize homosexuals

(photo: Pier Marco Tacca / Getty Images) On Tuesday 10 November, the Hungarian government proposed a package of constitutional reforms to parliament that contains different measures, to introduce the new security legal order of the state of war and a more restrictive definition of the concept of public money as "income, expenditure and debt of the state ”(which, according to some, would allow companies and foundations close to the government to freely draw on state funds). Furthermore, with a view to defending "Christian values", it will become more difficult for the opposition political parties to join forces to change the constitution. Of all the controversial amendments tabled by Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga, however, two stand out in particular which are causing great uproar, and both concern the LGBT + community.

The first of these two constitutional amendments reads: “Hungary protects the right of children to self-identify with the sex they were born with and guarantees them an education according to values ​​based on constitutional identity and on the Christian culture of our country ". The second adds that, in parent-child relationships, "the mother is a woman and the father is a man", thus guaranteeing the right to adopt minors only to heterosexual married couples.

In addition, according to the new reform package, single people will have to obtain a special ministerial permit to adopt children (on the conditions of which nothing is known yet). The Hungarian constitution already provides for the possibility of marrying only between a man and a woman, not for same-sex couples. In May 2020, parliament passed a bill banning any attempt to legally recognize trans people - a measure that many activists say pushed the country "back to the Middle Ages."

These latest amendments, therefore, only further confirm the conservative and anti-LGBT + approach of the leaders of the Hungarian state. Not surprisingly, these latest reforms were proposed by Viktor Orban's far-right government at a time of extreme vulnerability for civil society in Hungary, after the assembly approved the extension of the state of emergency in the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Since Wednesday 11 November, Hungary has returned to a national lockdown regime.