Key facts
- Hungary's government will change legislation that effectively banned gay adoption.
- The law was passed in 2020 by Viktor Orban's former government.
- Adoption by gay and lesbian couples was possible until late 2020 if one partner applied as a single person.
- Single people's adoption requests had to be approved by the family affairs minister under the 2020 law.
- Prime Minister Peter Magyar stated that professionals, not politicians, should decide on adoption cases.
- The European Court of Justice ruled in April that Hungary violated EU law with rules restricting LGBTQ content.
BUDAPEST, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Hungary's government will change legislation passed in 2020 by Viktor Orban's former government that had effectively banned gay adoption, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Saturday.
Adoption in Hungary, a European Union member state, by gay and lesbian couples was possible until late 2020 if one partner applied as a single person. Under the law passed by Orban's right-wing Fidesz party in 2020, single people had to have their adoption requests approved by the family affairs minister, which has amounted to an effective ban.
Magyar ousted Orban after 16 years in a landslide election win in April. Changing the system of adoption would be a significant measure to restore LGBTQ rights.
"We can state unequivocally that we will change this system: it should not be the minister, a politician ... who makes the decision in such cases, but rather professionals capable of determining the conditions under which a given young child can achieve ... a life that allows them to become a happy and harmonious member of society," Magyar told a briefing, in reply to a question.
Orban, who cast himself as a defender of what he called Christian values from Western liberalism, passed laws ending the change of gender in personal documents, effectively halting adoption by same-sex couples and banning materials in schools seen as promoting homosexuality or gender transition. The erosion of LGBTQ+ rights had a traumatic effect on the community.
Orban's government violated European law with rules prohibiting or restricting access to LGBTQ content, which stigmatise and marginalise gay and trans people, the European Court of Justice ruled in April, just before the election. Hungary has never allowed gay marriage but still recognises civil unions.