Court allows gay man from Transylvania to settle in Hungary

Hungary's Higest Court (Legfelsőbb Bíróság) has ruled that a young man from Transylvania can settle in the country with his same-sex partner, putting to end three years of litigation, mno.hu reports.

The Translyvanian man's request had earlier been rejected by the Immigration and Citizenship Office (Bevándorlási és Állampolgársági Hivatal) on the grounds that his same-sex partner is not a family member according to immigration laws. Because of this, his partner's assets could not be taken into consideration when deciding whether the would-be settler had the financial means to live in the country.

The Highest Court confirmed that the partner's statement indicating he would offer financial support could not be ignored, as the institution of "life partnership" (élettársi viszony) among same-sex couples is recognized by Hungarian law.

According to origo.hu, the Background Society for Gays (Háttér Társaság a Melegekért) and the Equal Treatment Advice Board (Egyenlő Bánásmód Tanácsadó Testület) are campaigning to convince legislators that the law governing the long-term partnership of same-sex couples is "seriously discriminative."

The Background Society for Gays said in a statement that the current case demonstrates that "the incompetent legislation ruling the long-term partnership of gays leads to - among other things - violation of their rights to privacy and to the unity of their family."

The Equal Treatment Advice Board is preparing a motion highlighting the shortcomings of the country's laws on long-term partnership of same-sex couples.

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