Hélène Gordon-Lazareff
started Elle in Paris in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Women won the right to vote in 1944,] and Elle dove immediately into long-form “newspaper-like” features on women’s role in national politics and the growing feminist movement. It had some notable ‘firsts’ in its history: In its 100th issue in 1947, it featured the work of Christian Dior just eight months after his debut show. In 1952 17-year-old Brigitte Bardot had her first Elle cover months before her screen debut in Manina, the Girl in the Bikini. Elle Brazil, one of the many international editions, was the first commercial magazine in the world to have a transgender model on its cover, with Lea T. in December 2011.
This month it is the turn of ELLE HUNGARY to show its true colors by putting a pair of gay dads and their child on its front cover, in a defiant move amid the country’s worsening anti-LGBTQ+ equality record,
Sharing the cover on Instagram yesterday, the magazine declared its intention was to “contribute to the acceptance of rainbow families” and help the publication to “campaign all over the country for love and all forms of family”. The post went on: “Every child deserves to grow up in a safe, caring and supportive environment and no one can prevent this based on their parents’ gender identity or sexual orientation.”
In the issue, the two fathers speak openly about the discrimination they’ve faced in Hungary, particularly as they welcomed their baby girl into the world. Same-sex marriage in the country is illegal, and a law passed in 2020 decrees that adoption is only allowed by couples who are married, effectively outlawing same-sex couples from adopting children.
Earlier this year, the hard-line right-wing prime minister Viktor Orbán attempted to introduce a chilling law that would have enabled citizens to report LGBTQ+ families to the authorities. The law was vetoed by the country’s president Katalin Novák, in what was considered an unusual rebuke from an otherwise staunch Orbán ally.
Orbán has also taken aim at the trans community. In 2020, the country banned transgender, non-binary and intersex people from legally changing their gender, effectively erasing them from existence. And in a move eerily the same as Florida’s De Santis the government passed a law banning LGBTQ+ topics from being discussed in schools or in the media, to prevent queer content from being accessed by minors
But today let’s celebrate Elle Hungary and their fearless support for our community.
Labels: 2023, cover shot, Elle Hungary, gay dads, groundbreaking
