Hungarian gay couple trying to adopt for 5 years finally making headway under new government

On September 12, Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said during a press conference that his government will move to end the country’s ban on same-sex couples adopting children. And one couple is speaking out about what this means to them.

Bence Lakatos and Jozsef Vanyovszki spoke with Reuters about how badly they want to become parents and how they have been trying to adopt since 2021.

“We didn’t feel outright hostility, but when we first met social services it was clear they had an unspoken inclination that led us to infer that a decision would go against us,” Vanyovszki said.

In 2020, the government led by Hungary’s former authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán amended its constitution to effectively ban adoption by same sex couples and define “family” as headed by a man and a woman.

Until then, same-sex couples could adopt if one member applied as a single person, Ynet explained. Orbán’s new policy made it so that any applications from single people had to be approved by the family affairs minister, which essentially meant same-sex couples would be turned away.

But this past August, Lakatos was suddenly approved to adopt as a single person, no doubt fueled by the new government’s values.

“We knew there would be changes after April, but actually experiencing this is completely different than merely hoping for something ⁠to change,” Vanyovszki said, adding that it “feels incredible” to finally be making headway.

Lakatos said he hopes the progress indicates that marriage equality could also be coming to the nation, as right now, only civil unions are legal for gay couples. “That would allow us to completely eliminate these additional difficulties and rights violations,” he said.

Earlier this year, Magyar ousted Orbán and his party, Fidesz, in a landslide victory. Orbán and Fidesz won only 55 of the 199 seats in the Hungarian parliament in elections this past April, while Magyar and Tisza won 138.

Magyar did not make any clear statements about LGBTQ+ rights during the election, but rather dismissed questions on the issue as playing into a culture war and falling for what he called “Orbán’s propaganda rubber bone,” in the form of policies meant to distract from the economic situation of Hungarians. As such, his election made further anti-LGBTQ+ laws less likely, but it was unclear whether repealing old ones would be a top priority.

But in the September 12 press conference, Magyar declared, “We can say unequivocally that we will change this system. It should not be a minister, a politician, who makes the decision in cases like these, but professionals who are capable of determining the conditions under which a young child can have a life that allows them to become a happy person in society.”

LGBTQ+ rights suffered greatly under Orbán. In June 2021, Hungary passed an “anti-pedophilia” law that actually targeted limiting the public discussion of LGBTQ+ lives and identities, banning media and schools from discussing LGBTQ+ identities and requiring sex education workers to register with the government to prevent them from promoting “representation of specific sexual orientations.” At the time, it was compared to Russia’s ban on “homosexual propaganda,” and was widely condemned by the European Parliament.

During Orbán’s tenure, Hungary also passed legislation that prevented correcting gender markers on personal documents for trans people, denying them gender recognition. He also banned Pride marches. The final of those laws was heavily protested, but enforced, with multiple people facing trial for organizing marches anyway.

Orbán claimed that these anti-LGBTQ+ policies were rooted in “Christian values” and protecting children, similar to how the right in the U.S. defends restrictive anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. Orban’s Fidesz party amended the constitutional right of assembly to enable their ban of Pride marches, claiming that “the recent changes establish that children’s rights to moral, physical and spiritual development, as defined above, take precedence over all other rights, including the right to peacefully assemble, except the right to life.”

Until 2024, Magyar was part of the Orbán Fidesz party and ran in 2026 as a center-right politician. He and the Tisza party campaigned on an anti-corruption, pro-democracy platform, focusing on the economy and working with the EU.

A poll released in May showed that 71% of people in the central European nation who voted for the new government broadly support LGBTQ+ people’s rights.

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Originally published here.