Hungary Bans Gay Adoptions In Constitution To Protect ‘Order of Creation’
By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News reporting from Budapest, Hungary
(Worthy News) – Hungary’s government has proposed a constitutional amendment defending “the order of Creation” that would require children to be raised according to Christian principles and bans adoption by same-sex couples.
Marriage must be between a man and woman, and only people in such a union would be allowed to adopt children, according to legislation submitted to Parliament on Tuesday.
Though same-sex couples have already been limited to civic partnerships and excluded from marriage, the proposed changes would take the European Union member state further into conservative territory.
The draft amendment submitted to parliament by Justice Minister Judit Varga declares that children must be guaranteed an “upbringing based on values stemming from Hungary’s … Christian culture.”
“The basis for family relations is marriage,” it says. “The mother is a woman, the father is a man.” It also says Hungary “protects children’s right to the gender identity they were born with,” after a government campaign to outlaw transgender identities.
CHRISTIAN BASIC LAW
Liberal commentators condemned the proposal by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s conservative nationalist government as imposing a “Christian Basic Law” on a “non-religious society.”
However, just over half of Hungary’s 10 million population professes a religion, mainly to the Catholic Church followed by Protestant denominations and other faith groups. Close to 50 percent claim to have no faith or declines to answer, according to census statistics.
The proposal comes as Orbán’s nationalist Fidesz party and his political allies, the small Christian democratic party KDNP, seek to shore up support among conservative Christian voters ahead of elections in early 2022. Their grip on power has been potentially weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact.
The amendments came after Parliament on Tuesday imposed a state of emergency that bans protests and includes a nationwide curfew, among other coronavirus battle measures. Hungary’s LGBT community says it now fears “concerted political attacks” ahead of the 2022 election.
However, in the General Justification section of the amendments, the government defended its policies writing that “concepts arising from the order of Creation are under constant threat.” It added it is questionable “whether the interests of future generations can be protected by the values of the [current] Basic Law,” as the constitution is known.
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