Hungary’s government has announced new plans to target the rights of transgender people with a new bill that aims to block individuals from being able to change their gender marker after birth.
Submitted by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén on 31 March (coinciding with International Transgender Day of Visibility), the bill proposes that “sex at birth” replaces “gender” in the civil registry, and states that this “sex at birth” may not be changed.
This change would affect all forms of identification such as ID cards, driving licenses, and passports.
“The sex entered into the civil registry is based on facts determined by doctors, declared by the registry. Given that completely changing one’s biological sex is impossible, it is necessary to lay it down in law so that it cannot be changed in the civil registry either,” explained a memorandum released to justify the proposed change.
The news of the new bill was met with outrage by human rights groups and the nations disappointed and marginalised Rainbow Community.
Hungary’s Transvanilla Transgender Association has since condemned the proposed legislation stating that the bill “denies trans people the right to gender recognition, violating their right to self-determination and countering national and international human rights standards.”
The association’s president, Barnabás Hidasi also added that “Transvanilla Transgender Association has repeatedly affirmed that legal gender recognition ensures a person’s right to self-determination and that procedures must be existent, quick, transparent, and accessible.”
TGEU (Transgender Europe) has also come out criticising the bill explaining that the measures “go against trans people’s human rights and represent a tremendous step back for Hungarian society.”
While homosexuality is legal in Hungary and same-sex couples are given some protection and rights through the nations anti-discrimination and partnership laws, the country’s 2012 Constitution restricts marriage to only between a man and a woman.
Last Updated on Apr 5, 2020
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