Budapest, April 3, 2009 – The Hungarian Equal Treatment Authority delivered its decision on Marc 12, 2009 in a case involving discrimination based on sexual orientation. The plaintiff, whose sexual orientation was widely known through the media, was denied membership at a dance studio, and claimed the decision was based on his sexual orientation. The Authority upheld the claim and imposed a 200.000 HUF (appr. 675 EUR) fine on the company.

The Equal Treatment Authority was established in 2005, following the adoption of the Act on Equal Treatment and Promotion of Equal Opportunities in 2003. The act forbids discrimination on various grounds among others sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, education, housing, health care, social security and access to goods and services. Victims of discrimination have the choice of taking cases to court or a newly set up public body, the Equal Treatment Authority.

The Authority receives a growing number of cases every year, it dealt with 1153 complaints last year. Most cases concern discrimination based on ethnicity, age, motherhood and disability, only very few deal with sexual orientation or gender identity. Those few cases that were reported in the past years were dismissed by the Authority on the grounds that the disadvantage had nothing to do with sexual orientation or gender identity.

The current case is the first one where the Authority declared a complaint about sexual orientation discrimination well founded. The Authority imposed three sanctions on the dance studio: the company was order to stop the discriminatory behavior, to pay a a 200.000 HUF (appr. 675 EUR) fine and information about the case – including the name of the company – is to be published on the website of the Authority for six months. The decision is not final, the dance studio may appeal the decision to court in 30 days.