Rita Béres-Deák - Queer Families in Hungary: Same-Sex Couples, Families of Origin, and Kinship

The Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life series is impressive and contemporary in its themes and approachesProfessor Deborah Chambers, Newcastle University, UK, and author of New Social Ties .

The remit of the Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life series is to publish major texts, monographs and edited collections focusing broadly on the sociological exploration of intimate relationships and family organization. The series covers a wide range of topics such as partnership, marriage, parenting, domestic arrangements, kinship, demographic change, intergenerational ties, life course transitions, step-families, gay and lesbian relationships, lone-parent households, and also non-familial intimate relationships such as friendships and includes works by leading figures in the field, in the UK and internationally, and aims to contribute to continue publishing influential and prize-winning research.

More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14676

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

I am greatly indebted to all the people from the Hungarian LGBTQ community and their families who have shared with me stories and in some cases events from their lives. This book would not have come to life without you, and I am trying to do my best to give you voice and provide increased visibility for stories like yours.

This book is based on my Ph.D. research at the Gender Studies Department of the Central European University, Budapest. I am grateful to CEU for making it possible and also for being a beacon of hope for researchers and academic freedom in my country.

It would take too long to list here all the scholars who have influenced me; their names will appear on the following pages often enough. I must, however, mention some who have given me important feedback on my work, including (but not limited to) Hadley Z. Renkin, Ellen Lewin, va Fodor, Dri Rdai, Rhel Kati Turai, Roman Kuhar, and Judit Takcs. I am indebted to Amelia Derkatsch from Palgrave Macmillan for considering this book worth publishing and for helping me along with this process.

For information on the legal background, I am indebted to Tams Dombos, one of the few legal experts I know who can actually speak in a way intelligible to ordinary humans. Csilla Faix-Prukner and Krisztin Rzsa, family therapists and leaders of the Rainbow Families Foundation, have provided me with valuable sites for fieldwork, as well as psychological literature and friendship.

From the beginning of research to writing this book has been more than a decade. Over this time, what sustained me was partly my friends at Httr, in sz<3ft, at VndorMsok, and our very secret Facebook group of cat-loving feminists. You guys deserve all the virtual hugs and cats in the world! I am grateful to my parents for being much nicer and more flexible than many described on the following pages. Last but not least, I want to thank my own queer family: a human and a cat, Andrs and Kristf. Without their unrelenting love, you would not be reading these words nowand yet words do not suffice to express what I feel for them.