Hungary’s rightwing government looks likely to push through legislation that will end the legal recognition of trans people by defining gender as “biological sex based on primary sex characteristics and chromosomes” and thus making it impossible for people to legally change their gender.

Trans people and rights activists say the law, which has been introduced into parliament as attention is focused on the coronavirus pandemic, will increase discrimination and intolerance towards trans people. Many will try to leave the country, while those who do not have that chance will face daily humiliations.

“In Hungary, you need to show your ID to rent a bike, buy a bus pass or to pick up a package at the post office. It basically means coming out as trans to complete strangers, all the time. The good version is they are nice about it, but there are situations where people turn quite hostile,” said Ivett Ördög, a 39-year-old trans woman living in Budapest.

Hungary’s anti-immigration prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has prompted a wave of international criticism during the coronavirus pandemic by adopting legislation that allows him to rule by decree indefinitely. Parliament is still sitting, but instead of focusing on fighting coronavirus, it is dealing with issues such as the new trans legislation.

Bernadett Szél, an independent MP who has opposed the law in parliament’s judicial committee, described it as “evil” and “a step back in time”. During a hearing in the committee, she tried to read out a letter from trans people explaining how harmful the law would be for them, but was shut down by the committee’s chair, who described the letter as “not relevant”.

Szél also criticised the timing of the bill. “We have a pandemic going on and all of us should be focusing on two things: healthcare issues and helping people financially to secure their wellbeing. What is happening in Hungary is a scandal,” she said. It is not clear when the bill will be put to a vote, but observers say its passage through committees suggests the government is pushing ahead with it.

Bernadett Szél: ‘What is happening in Hungary is a scandal.’ Photograph: Zoltán Balogh/AP

The law also opens up the possibility that it could target people who have already made a legal change and now live with a gender that does not match their “sex at birth”, the planned new gender category on official documents.

“We think it’s likely that they don’t plan to go after people who already changed, but we just don’t know,” said Tamás Dombos, a board member of the Háttér Society, a Hungarian organisation focused on LGBTQI rights.

Legal experts say the new law will be in violation of European human rights case law, leaving it open to challenge in both the Hungarian supreme court and the European court of human rights (ECHR).

“There’s very clear case law on this in the ECHR, so it’s very likely it will be challenged soon after it’s implemented. But the court takes years, and the decisions are always individual. People will probably get compensation but it won’t mean they get new documents,” said Dombos.

Until 2016, the procedure for legally changing gender in Hungary was fairly straightforward, said Dombos, but for the past three years, authorities have been reluctant to implement the law, meaning there is a backlog of people waiting for decisions on their applications for gender changes. “My request has been sitting there for a year, and this new law will mean it will be fully rejected,” said Ördög.

Orbán’s government has become more hostile towards the LGBTQ+ community in the past two years, moving from generic language about traditional values and the benefits of heterosexual marriage to openly discriminatory language, such as comparing homosexuality to paedophilia.

“This kind of language was not present before, and now it is no longer just discourse, it’s going to become policy,” said Dombos.

Although it will still be possible for people to change their names, in Hungary there is an official register of allowed names compiled by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and this list is gendered. There are no names approved for both genders. “I cannot change my legal name to anything that doesn’t give me away as a trans person,” said Ördög.

Even without the new law, life for trans people in Hungary is filled with obstacles. Amanda Malovics, a 30-year-old trans woman, left Hungary in 2015 for London, with one suitcase and enough money to last a month, she said, as she felt uncomfortable starting her transition in Hungary.

In Britain she has changed her name by deed poll, which means that bank accounts, bills and the rest of her life in London can be conducted under her new name. As soon as she needs to travel, however, she is faced with using her Hungarian passport with her old name and gender. She applied to change her gender in Hungary last year but, like others, has had the application stalled.

“I live and breathe as a woman, I look like a woman, I am present in myself as a woman and I identify as a woman, but my ID says otherwise. I absolutely hate travelling, because of this. There’s massive fear and anxiety every time,” she said.

Now, she says, she is waiting until she qualifies for UK citizenship to receive a passport in her new name, and at that point will consider making the difficult decision to revoke her Hungarian citizenship. She believes many other Hungarian trans people will also leave.

“It’s pointless for me to belong somewhere where I’m not wanted or welcome,” she said.