A draft law proposed by the Hungarian government eyes to end legal gender recognition for transgender people. The bill stipulates that gender should be defined as “biological sex based on primary sex characteristics and chromosomes”. As such, it would record people’s “sex at birth” in the Hungarian civil registry, making it impossible to change anyone’s legally recognized gender.
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s government previously introduced a measure that in effect banned universities from teaching gender studies.
Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights Dunja Mijatović called on Hungary’s parliament not to adopt the law, saying that the measure was in contravention of human rights standards and the case law of the European court of human rights.
“Transgender persons have the right to legal recognition of their gender based on self-determination. This is an essential step to ensure respect for their human rights in all areas of life. Legal gender recognition is a matter of human dignity,” she said in a statement.
