“Stand up for your Rights, Stand up for your Community!” Advocating for the fundamental rights of LGBTQI+ people through strategic litigation and awareness raising

The fundamental rights of LGBTQ people are violated in many ways. In order to protect and assert them, Háttér Society aims at providing legal remedy through strategic litigation in a few special areas – e.g. the ban on legal gender recognition, or the consequences of the so-called “child protection act”. Besides, as Hungarian legal practice is not line with human rights norms and European Union law, the organisation also aims at counteracting this discrimination, such as the lack of recognition of same sex marriages contracted abroad through advocacy activities. Overall, the aim of strategic litigation and advocacy are to amend provisions that negatively discriminate LGBTQ people, in order to guarantee their fundamental rights unconditionally and equally. Developing the legal knowledge among professionals, publications and promotional campaigns aim at the wider public broadening their knowledge about infringements affecting LGBTQ people.

Moreover, the initiative develops LGBTQ people’s awareness of their rights through trainings and professional support offered to formal and informal communities in the countryside, especially to local activists. Thus, supportive local communities that know the practice of law-enforcement become available to everyone. Local organisations can apply for capacity building and mentoring in order to become able to implement local programs, campaigns, etc. Besides, a network of lawyers proficient in LGBTQ rights will be created so as to make this service be available countrywide. In the long run, all of these outcomes will support the effective and broadly accessible protection of LGBTQ people’s rights.