Hungary

Overview

Homosexual practices between consenting adults became decriminalized in 1961. Registered partnerships are available for same-sex couples since 2009, but marriage is banned. Adoption is possible for single persons, or married couples, but not for couples in a civil partnership (i.e. same-sex couples). Discrimination on a basis of sexual orientation, or gender identity is banned in employment, housing, and military. It is legal in Hungary to change legal gender without gender reassignment surgery. There are several organisations advocating for LGBT rights in Hungary, the list can be found below.

• An overview of rights and legal acts by ILGA Europe [in English].
• Country ranking by ILGA Europe [in English].

Resources

Books

• Adam, B., Duyvendak, Jan Willem, Krouwel, André, & Krouwel, Andrâe. (2009). Global Emergence Of Gay & Lesbian Politics. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
• Baker, C. (2016). Gender in twentieth-century Eastern Europe and the USSR. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Baker, C. et al. (2007). Nation in formation: inclusion and exclusion in Central and Eastern Europe. London: School of Slavonic and East European Studies UCL.
• Béres-Deák, R. (2020). Queer Families in Hungary. Same-Sex Couples, Families of Origin, and Kinship. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Borgos, A. (2013). Nemek között. Nőtörténet, szexualitástörténet. Between the sexes: Women’s history, sexuality-history] Budapest: Noran Libro.
• Borgos, A  (ed.) (2011). Eltitkolt évek. Tizenhat leszbikus életút. Budapest: Labrisz Leszbikus Egyesület. Available in English translation: Secret Years. Sixteen Lesbian Life Stories.
• Buyantueva, R. & Shevtsova M. (2020). LGBTQ Activism in Central and Eastern Europe: Resistance, Representation and Identity. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Csehy, Z. (2014). Szodoma és környéke: Homoszocialitás, barátságretorika és queer irányulások a magyar költészetben. Bratislava: Kalligram.
• Downing, Gillett, Downing, Lisa, & Gillett, Robert. (2011). Queer in Europe: Contemporary case studies. (Queer interventions). Farnham: Ashgate.
• Fejes, N., & Balogh, A. (2012). Queer visibility in post-socialist cultures. Bristol: Intellect books.
• Hanzli, P., Banach Nagy, M., & Halmai, B. (2015). Meleg férfiak, hideg diktatúrák: életinterjúk. Budapest: Civil Művek Közművelődési Egyesület.
• Kuhar, R. et al. (2007). Beyond the pink curtain: Everyday life of LGBT people in Eastern Europe. Ljubljana: Peace Institute.
• Mole, R.C.M. (2021). Queer Migration and Asylum in Europe. London: UCL Press.
• Nagy, B. & Bölecz, L. (2020). Meseország mindenkié. Budapest: Labrisz Leszbikus Egyesület.
• Nádasdy, A. (2015). A vastagbőrű mimóza: írások melegekről, melegségről. Budapest: Magvető.
• O'Dwyer, C. (2018). Coming out of communism: The emergence of LGBT activism in Eastern Europe.  New York: New York University.
• Takács, J. (2018). Meleg század: adalékok a homoszexualitás 20. századi magyarországi társadalomtörténetéhez. Budapest: Kalligram: MTA TK.
• Takács Judit szerk. (2011) Homofóbia Magyarországon. Budapest: L’Harmattan Kiadó.
• Takács Judit szerk. (2006) A lélek műtétei. Budapest: Új Mandátum Kiadó.
• Takács Judit (2004) Homoszexualitás és társadalom. Budapest: Új Mandátum Kiadó.

Periodicals

• Electronic Periodicals Archive & Database (EPA) - an initiative of the Hungarian Electronic Library (MEK) aimed at creating a bibliographic database and register of the Hungarian e-periodicals [in Hungarian and English].
• MATARKA - Hungarian (academic) journals search engine provides direct links to articles where possible [in Hungarian and English]. 

Repositories

• Corvinus Research Archive - an institutional repository of the Corvinus University of Budapest. It contains research by CUB staff, including journal articles, book chapters, books, working papers, conference papers [in English].
• Eötvös Loránd University's Digital Institutional Repository [in Hungarian and English].
• Full text online resources related to gender in Hungary from The European Institute for Gender Equality EIGE [multilingual].
• Háttér publications on LGBTQI [in Hungarian].
• Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences archive contains full-text publications of research projects, including the research on LGBTQ+ and gender [in Hungarian and English].
• Patent association's articles on gender-related topics [in Hungarian].

Data and statistics

• European LGBT Survey, 2012. FRA Europe [in English].
• Hungary hate crime data by OSCE ODIHR [in English].
• LGBT survey 2010 - Háttér Society in collaboration with the Institute of Sociology at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences conducted a survey research among LGBT people in Hungary  [in English].
• State-Sponsored Homophobia report: latest edition, includes maps and dataset, ILGA Europe - a world survey of sexual orientation laws + older editions [in English].

Reports

• A kirekesztés arcai: A transz emberek foglalkoztatási és munkahelyi hátrányos megkülönböztetése. Háttér Társaság, 2017 [in Hungarian].
• A leszbikus, meleg, biszexuális és transznemű (LMBT) emberek társadalm i kirekesztettsége Magyarországon.​ MTA Szociológiai Kutatóintézet, 2007 [in Hungarian].
• Annual Review of the Human Rights Situation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex People in Hungary covering events that occurred between January-December 2020. ILGA Europe [in English].
• ECRI - Country monitoring in Hungary. Reports, 1997 - 2020 [in English].
• Hate Crimes in Hungary Problems, Recommendations, Good Practices. Másság Alapítvány, 2014 [in English].
• Meeting the challenge of accession Surveys on sexual orientation discrimination in countries joining the European Union. ILGA Europe Policy Paper, April 2004 [in English].
• Situation of LGBT Families in Hungary. Háttér Support Society for LGBT Peopleand the Inter Alia Foundation, September, 2010 [in English].
• Social Exclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) People in Hungary. Research Report. Budapest: Institute of Sociology, HAS – Háttér Support Society for LGBT People in Hungary, 2008 [in English].
• Submission by Háttér Society for The Osce ODIHR Annual Report on Hate Crimes 2013. Másság Alapítvány, 2014 [in English].
• "They can be anything?" Employment and Workplace Discrimination against LGBTQI People in Hungary. Háttér Society, 2016 [in English].

News portals

• GAY.HU - newsportal including articles, movies, news etc [in Hungarian].
• Humen magazine - a literary, cultural, public and lifestyle magazine that has been a gay-friendly intellectual forum since 2011 in the Hungarian press. Youtube channel, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts [in Hungarian].

Audio-visual

• Faced with multiple „values” - from the perspective of the Roma LGBTQI community [in Hungarian, English].
• Memories of being queer, part of Queer Memory project [in Hungarian, with English subtitles].
• National Audio-Visual Archive of Hungary [in Hungarian and English].

Digital libraries and archives

Libraries, archives:

• Digital Archives Portal - The online services of the National Archives of Hungary (MNL) and Budapest City Archives (BFL) can be accessed through the Digital Archives Portal. Here you can search in the combined databases of registry and digital contents of the archives, register as a researcher, submit document requests or contact our client services. [in Hungarian and English].
• The Háttér Archive - The materials of the Háttér Archive on LGBTQI are used for research purposes by academic researchers. The online resources include: LGBT Archive and library and LGBT Literature and Film Database [in Hungarian and English].
• Hungarian Digital Archive of Pictures [in Hungarian and English] .
• National Audio-Visual Archive of Hungary [in Hungarian and English].
• National Széchényi Library - includes  Hungarian Electronic Library [in Hungarian and English].

Databases:

• Arcanum Digitheca - a database that includes scientific and professional journals, weekly and daily newspapers, encyclopedias, and thematic book collections [in Hungarian and English].
• Fortepan - a copyright-free and community-based photo archive with over 100,000 photographs available for anyone to browse and download in high-resolution, free of charge [in Hungarian and English].
• Hungaricana - Hungarian Cultural Heritage Portal search engine [in Hungarian and English].

Online exhibitions:

• Queer Memory: Loading: Love - an exhibition about the past of gay community in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia [in English].

Organisations

• Atlasz Sports Club was founded in 2004, with the goal of helping LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) men and women athletes in an environment where they don't have to hide their identity [English].
• Háttér Society is the largest and oldest currently operating LGBTQI organization in Hungary. It has a wide range of publications about LGBTQ in Hungary. Their Facebook profile [Hungarian, English].
• The Hungarian LGBT Association [English].
• Labrisz is an initiative which, apart from providing social space, reflects on the social position of lesbian and bisexual women in an organized form. The website contains interesting archival material, information about projects and events, and a forum. Their Youtube channel [Hungarian, English].
• Szimpozion is an organisation promoting positive LGBTQ image in Hungary. Their Facebook profile, and Youtube channel [Hungarian, English].

Other resources

• Budapest Pride website [Hungarian, English].