Survey finds Hungarians "not actively homophobic"

The majority of Hungarian society is not actively homophobic but it rejects facing homosexuality as a public matter, the results of a new survey published on Friday show.

The careful attitude of politicians in connection with the upcoming Gay Pride March ties in with this general attitude, said Political Capital, a think tank.

However, there is a danger that the far right, which has made an issue of the gay pride march since 2007, may take ownership of the subject, fueling racism in wider society and affecting the relationship between the mainstream and gay people, the think tank said.

Currently the attitude of majority society to gays, lesbians and transsexuals can be summed in one sentence: "we accept them as long as we don't see them," it said.

The Gay Pride march has become an important topic in public discussion since 2007 when marchers were first subjected to violence.

Political Capital noted that the violence started only after the anti-government riots of 2006. It was at that time that various groups, mostly connected to radical nationalists, were formed; thereafter they searched for other platforms to show themselves. Consequently, political discourse about the Gay Pride march is currently much more about the fight against extremists and questions of security than about gay issues.

The first gay organisation was formed in Hungary in 1988 and discriminative legal regulations against gays have been gradually phased out since the change of system in 1989. Currently the only rights that gays do not have are marriage and adoption.

Still, according to a European Social Survey carried out in 2006, gays in Hungary are still much more firmly in the closet than in other countries of the regions.

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