Hi everyone — thought I’d be writing another article in English since you love them. Today’s topic is very sad but I feel like I have to point out what a conservative government can do to make our life a lot harder — in a modern European society.

A little political background where I live: Hungary chose Fidesz to be the leading political party in 2010 and they have been in power ever since. It is a right-wing political party with many biggots and fascits even though they do not admit it (obviously not everyone thinks the same way within the party but the leading voices are not supportive towards minorities at all). During the first few years they have done everything to put obstacles in front of the LGBTQ community but they haven’t directly interfered with transgender rights at the beginning.

This all changed in 2016… So what happened exactly?

One of the biggest trans supporting group asked the government to review the current name and gender change processes because they thought they were lacking. For example there was no time limit about the the name and gender change decisions and there were also institution disputes, meaning there was no definite institution in charge for deciding whether a transgender person could change their gender or not. And so the government reviewed it — and stopped the whole process for months. They have realized that the process was fundamentally lacking (or wrong?) and they requested policy modifications and advices. Nothing significant happened so they have started processing the name and gender changes again in 2017 with no changes. This came as a surprise for many and the transgender community was very confused.

We had a new election in 2018 and everything turned bad for us. They have stopped the whole process again, claiming it was time to renew the policies. And guess what? They have been reviewing it for almost 2 years now. Right now, if someone wants to get their name and gender change done, they have to send their documents with the official evaluations to the Ministry of Human Capacities or to the bureau buuuut they will not be reviewing it. The transgender person will receive an official letter from the Ministry that they have to send their documents to the bureau due to privacy reasons, and the bureau will send a letter that the documents need to be sent to the Ministry. Fingerpointing with no reason.

Hungarian transgenders have been feeling humiliated and upset about this with good reason (myself included). It is humiliating when you try to deal with your official things and you show up in a skirt with full make up on and you will need to say your dead name. You will get stares and you might also be judged — after all not every Hungarian person is open-minded nor they are used to this things. Moreover, gender reassignment surgeries are almost impossible to action without the correct name / gender so Hungarian trans people have to look for other alternatives. And the list goes on…

Good news or hopes?

There is some. Some people have reported good outcomes recently when requesting a gender change from the registrar. They can process these changes — but if they do so, they would be standing up against the government and could risk losing their jobs. (These kind of politically motivated revenges are very common in Hungary since 2010.) So right now the best thing is to wait if you do not want to get your official documents lost in this horrible process.

I personally think it is outrageous that in a European country such things can happen without consequences. We are deprived of our fundamental right. This is not okay in 2019. Do you encounter any sort of discrimination in your home country or do you know any other country in Europe or another modern western society where such things exist? If so, please do not hesitate to share it with me!

Instagram: lauraassy13

Hope to hear from you soon,

Laura