Hungary Tries Again On Domestic Partners

Months after a court struck down a domestic partners act because it was too similar to marriage, which their constitution holds is only for a man and a woman, the Hungarian government is trying again.

The Hungarian Government has approved a new bill on registered partnerships. It replaces a previous law on registered partnership that was struck down by the Constitutional Court in December, just weeks before its was due to come into force. The new bill introduces the institution of registered partnership only for same sex couples and a scheme of domestic partnership registration for both same sex and different sex couples. Support for the bill in the Parliament is still an open question. In December the Hungarian Constitutional Court ruled that the law on registered partnership adopted by the Hungarian Parliament a year earlier was unconstitutional.

The new bill specifically excludes the right for same-sex couples to take their partner's name or to adopt children.