The Hungarian government looks likely to push through legislation that would end the legal recognition of transgender people by defining gender as “biological sex based on primary sex characteristics and chromosomes,” therefore making it impossible for people to legally change their gender.
Transgender people and rights advocates say the law, which has been introduced in parliament as attention is focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, would increase discrimination and intolerance.
Many would try to leave the nation, while those who do not have that chance would face daily humiliations.
“In Hungary, you need to show your ID to rent a bike, buy a bus pass or to pick up a package at the post office. It basically means coming out as trans to complete strangers, all the time. The good version is they are nice about it, but there are situations where people turn quite hostile,” said Ivett Ordog, a 39-year-old transgender woman living in Budapest.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has prompted a wave of international criticism during the coronavirus pandemic by adopting legislation that allows him to rule by decree indefinitely.
Parliament is still sitting, but instead of focusing on fighting the pandemic, it is dealing with issues such as the new transgender legislation.
Independent lawmaker Bernadett Szel, who opposed the law at a hearing held by parliament’s judicial committee, described it as “evil” and “a step back in time.”
During the hearing, she tried to read out a letter from transgender people explaining how harmful the law would be for them, but was shut down by the committee’s chair, who described the letter as “not relevant.”
Szel also criticized the timing of the bill.
“We have a pandemic going on and all of us should be focusing on two things: healthcare issues and helping people financially to secure their well-being. What is happening in Hungary is a scandal,” she said.
It was not clear when the bill would be put to a vote, but observers said that its passage through committees suggests the government is pushing ahead with it.
The law also opens up the possibility that it could target people who have already made a legal change and now live with a gender that does not match their “sex at birth,” the planned new gender category on government documents.
“We think it’s likely that they don’t plan to go after people who already changed, but we just don’t know,” said Tamas Dombos, a board member of the Hatter Society, a Hungarian organization focused on LGBTQI rights.
Legal experts say the new law would be a contravention of European human rights case law, leaving it open to challenge in both the Hungarian Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
“There’s very clear case law on this in the ECHR, so it’s very likely it will be challenged soon after it’s implemented, but the court takes years, and the decisions are always individual. People will probably get compensation, but it won’t mean they get new documents,” Dombos said.
The procedure for legally changing gender in Hungary until 2016 was fairly straightforward, Dombos said, but for the past three years authorities have been reluctant to implement the law, meaning there is a backlog of people waiting for decisions on their applications for gender changes.
“My request has been sitting there for a year,and this new law will mean it will be fully rejected,” Ordog said.
The Hungarian government has become more hostile toward the LGBTQI community in the past two years, moving from generic language about traditional values and the benefits of heterosexual marriage to openly discriminatory language, such as comparing homosexuality to pedophilia.
“This kind of language was not present before and now it is no longer just discourse, it’s going to become policy,” Dombos said.
Although it would still be possible for people to change their name, in Hungary there is an official register of allowed names compiled by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the list is gendered.
There are no names approved for both genders.
“I cannot change my legal name to anything that doesn’t give me away as a trans person,” Ordog said.
Even without the new law, life for transgender people in Hungary is filled with obstacles.
Amanda Malovics, a 30-year-old transgender woman, left Hungary in 2015 for London, with one suitcase and enough money to last a month, she said, as she felt uncomfortable starting her transition in Hungary.
In the UK she has changed her name by deed poll, which means that bank accounts, bills and the rest of her life in London can be conducted under her new name. However, as soon as she needs to travel, she is faced with using her Hungarian passport, with her old name and gender.
She applied to change her gender in Hungary last year, but, like others, has had the application stalled.
“I live and breathe as a woman, I look like a woman. I am present in myself as a woman and I identify as a woman, but my ID says otherwise. I absolutely hate traveling because of this. There’s massive fear and anxiety every time,” she said.
Now she is waiting until she qualifies for UK citizenship to receive a passport in her new name and at that point would consider making the difficult decision to revoke her Hungarian citizenship.
She believes many other Hungarian transgender people would do the same.
“It’s pointless for me to belong somewhere where I’m not wanted or welcome,” she said.
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