The past couple of weeks have been especially turbulent for the Hungarian LGBTQ+ community. Just a couple of weeks after starting his second term, US President Donald Trump decided to cut essential funds for the support of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, which has fuelled Hungarian PM Viktor Orban’s efforts to undermine the work of Hungarian NGOs and people who disagree with him, labelled all simply as “bugs”.
In just a couple of week, the Hungarian LGBTQ+ community saw
- the arrest and imprisonment of Noemi Bordas, one of the few doctors that gave medical support to Hungarian trans people;
- an amendment proposal to the Constitution that defines a person as a man or a woman, specifically in this order following Christian creation, and denying the validity of the scientific term “gender”;
- the warning that PM Orban would ban Pride in Hungary, the biggest event of visibility and connection for Hungarian LGBTQ+ people, on the grounds of “child protection”;
- the actual amendment proposal submitted by the government, accepted by the Parliament, and signed by the President, in just 3 days, promising that whoever decides to attend Pride will be fined and face recognition software will be used to identify as many “bugs” as possible.
However disheartening the situation is, the Hungarian LGBTQ+ community stands firm against PM Orban’s attack. We will keep on fighting for our visibility, our rights, and each other. And let us not forget, we have allies all over the world.
For example, Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad, a physician and sexologist, and the most prominent trans person in Norway.
Not long after coming to Norway, we heard the news that the Norwegian Health Authority revoked a trans doctor’s medical license, basically for giving medical support for Norwegian trans people. This was the sad occasion that we learned the name Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad. We were shocked because, like many, we thought Norway was better than this. Fast-forward two years and we have our Esben Esther, it is just that ours is called Noemi Bordas.
Right after the news came out early 2023 about Esben Esther’s case, a number of demonstrations took place around Norway, in Trondheim as well, to express support for Esben Esther and dissent against the NHA. The decision was later partially withdrawn. Lately we also had the chance to read Esben Esther’s newest book, with the title Mitt liv som hun og han og hen (“My life as she and he and they”), in which they share their life story from childhood up until today. From the pages of this book, we got to know a sincere, open, and warm person, who we hoped we would one day get to meet.
And the occasion presented itself now. When we wrote to Esben Esther about qLit and the Hungarian community, they were truly supportive. Below is their message to qLit and Hungarian LGBTQ+ people:
“Do we have to be brave? Yes, I guess we have to be brave. But, most of all we need to be proud. Proud of what we are.”
Let us finish with a poem by Esben Esther Pirelli Benestad (2019):
A better world
I have been told I live a sin
By those who claim to know
I should obey what I am in
just be my genitals somehow
My childhood was not understood
They almost took my sanity away
They made me feel as nothing good
until one shiny day
When those who had told lies of me
Who sang the diagnostic song
Who made it hard for me to be
They had been proven wrong
Do I know of their remorse?
No, not one single thing
They should feel sorry – yes, of course
But that’s for them to bring
I will go on and live as me
Let love and beauty in
And those who might still disagree
They make an awful sin.
