Post-Orgy, Hungary Bans Adoption by Gay Couples, Cements Marriage Ban

Hungary's ultraconservative ruling party, despite a scandal involving one of its top members being caught in a gay orgy, has pushed through legislation barring same-sex couples from adopting children and strengthening opposition to marriage equality.

The nation's Parliament, dominated by Prime Minister Victor Orban's right-wing Fidesz Party, passed the legislation Tuesday, Radio Free Europe reports. The vote was 134 to 45, with five members abstaining.

The country will limit adoption to married heterosexual couples, with an exception allowing single people to adopt with approval by the nation's family affairs minister. Hungary previously allowed people in same-sex relationships to adopt if one member applied as a single person, but given the extreme homophobia in the nation, the government may not be inclined to approve these adoptions.

Parliament also amended the Hungarian constitution to make clear that nontraditional households are not considered families. "The mother is a woman, the father is a man. ... Hungary protects the institution of marriage ... between a man and a woman, as well as the family as the basis for the survival of the nation," the amendment reads. The nation does not allow same-sex marriage but offers civil unions.

Additionally, Parliament voted to reduce oversight of government spending and make it easier for leaders to declare a state of national emergency.

LGBTQ+ and other civil rights advocates condemned the moves. "This is a dark day for Hungary's LGBTQ community and a dark day for human rights," David Vig, director of Amnesty Hungary, told Radio Free Europe.

"These discriminatory, homophobic, and transphobic new laws are part of an ongoing attack on LGBTI people by Hungarian authorities," added Katrin Hugendubel of ILGA World -- The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.

In May, Parliament had "banned legal gender recognition, effectively preventing transgender and intersex people in Hungary from legally changing their gender or sex assigned at birth," Radio Free Europe notes.

Parliament's action comes after Jozsef Szajer, who represented Fidesz in the European Parliament, was caught in an all-male sex party in Brussels, Belgium. The party was broken up by police for violating restrictions on the size of gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Szajer had often spoken proudly of writing a ban on same-sex marriage into Hungary's constitution, among other anti-LGBTQ+ actions.

Szajer has now resigned his position in the European Parliament and resigned from Fidesz. He made a public statement saying he had made a "misstep" that was "strictly personal," but he did not address the nature of the gathering. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban called Szajer's attendance at the party "unacceptable and indefensible."

The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, has released a plan for LGBTQ+ equality at a time of rising homophobia in Hungary and some other European countries, especially Poland.