Balázs Birtalan

Who is Balázs Birtalan?

Balázs Birtalan is a Hungarian author, poet, publicist, psychotherapist, mostly known for his former participation in the gay Christian movement in Hungary. He is the son of the poet Ferenc Birtalan.

His first poems were published at the age of ten; he has been publishing regularly since the age of 14. He attended the Eötvös József High School in Budapest and graduated in 1988. Raised as non-religious, he became a Christian on February 12, 1989, which was a life-changing experience for him; he was baptized as a Roman Catholic one week later. Between 1990 and 1992 he studied theology at the Esztergom College of Theology and joined a Christian community, from which he was shut out because of his homosexuality in 1993. This led to his launching of the gay Christian movement in Hungary with his friends. They founded the communities Bíborpalást ["Scarlet Robe"] and Öt Kenyér ["Five Loaves of Bread"] afterwards, in which he took active part for more than a decade.

In 1995 and 1996 he studied psychology at the Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. He has an intermediate level language exam in English and an advanced level one in Esperanto. Between 1988 and 1998 he earned a living by selling books and CD's; between 1996 and 1997 he taught English. Since 1998 he has been working in a notary public's office, editing legal instruments. In 2005–2006, he completed the 200-hour method-specific course of the Integrative Psychotherapy Association.