TOL Hungary

The Coming-out of the Under-Secretary

July 6th, 2007 by robertnemeth

“I am Gábor Szetey. The HR Under-Secretary of the government of the Hungarian Republic. I believe in God, in love, in freedom and in equality. I am Hungarian and European. I am an economist, an HR-leader. A partner, a friend, sometimes an opponent. And gay. Like you. Like hundreds of thousands in this country, who - I hope - will hear these sentences. Hooh. I expressed it.”

Gábor Szetey said these words at the opening ceremony of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual Film and Cultural Festival. Several ministers and other politicians were present. This was the first time in Hungary, when someone who is a leading politician, openly admitted being homosexual.  

Not he was the first one though. Last year, Klára Ungár, a leader of the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats, which is the smaller member of the governing coalition, admitted the same. But, she was only a party leader and not part of the government. 

In the Hungarian system, the under-secretary is the second person in a ministry, basically, the deputy of the minister. It is different in the ministry Szetey works for, since there are more under-secretaries. But he is an important person of the government. Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány convinced him last year to leave his job in Argentina, and reform the public sector.

His coming-out may mark a change. The liberal party wants to change the law; they want to give equal rights to homosexual couples, including the possibility to marry and to adopt the partner’s children. The Socialist party, the other member of the coalition is willing to change the law as well: they want to introduce “registered matrimonial partnership”; however, it is not really clear what they mean with it.

Nevertheless, the chances that it will go through the parliament are not too big. Opposition parties oppose this law. Opposition leader Viktor Orbán said last year that the marriage of homosexuals is against Hungarian society. The leader of the small Christian Democrat People’s Party said: marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. One of their members called Szetey a “meteorological under-secretary”. The youth organization of this party calls for a boycott of those companies and firm that support this year’s gay festival. There will be a march on Saturday - extreme rightists are preparing to disrupt it.

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