Hungary to Scrap Same-Sex Adoption Restrictions

The Hungarian government will change adoption rules that effectively prevented same-sex couples from becoming adoptive parents under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The new head of government, Péter Magyar, announced the decision on September 12 during the presentation of a child protection report, Reuters reports .

Until 2020, same-sex couples in Hungary could adopt children if one partner applied as a single person. However, the conservative Fidesz government changed the law, requiring single applicants to obtain special permission from the family affairs minister. Human rights advocates argued this amounted to a de facto ban on LGBTQ adoption.

“We can state unequivocally that we will change this system: it should not be the minister, a politician… who makes the decision in such cases, but rather professionals capable of determining the conditions under which a given young child can achieve a life that allows them to become a happy and harmonious member of society,” the Prime Minister stated.

According to a new government child protection report, the current system is on the verge of collapse: due to bureaucratic hurdles and political filters, many children remain in state care, while potential parents—single people and same-sex couples—are unable to get adoption approval.

The Prime Minister’s decision drew sharp criticism from the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP). The leader of its parliamentary group, Bence Rétvári, stated that the party would not support these changes, arguing that children need “a mother and a father,” and accused Magyar of having “openly become a gender activist.”

Péter Magyar, who won the April 2026 elections, has not yet made official statements regarding the possibility of legalizing same-sex marriages, which are currently not recognized in Hungary.