Hungary’s new government has put a bill before parliament that would strip the most contested wording from the anti-LGBTQ rules for minors that Viktor Orban’s government introduced in 2021. The bill was submitted on Monday.
The 2021 law was an add-on to the country’s child protection regulations. It banned the “promotion of homosexuality” to under-18s, and it was later used to ban Pride marches. Activists and leaders across the European Union criticised it for stigmatising LGBTQ people and linking same-sex relations to paedophilia.
What changes
The bill would remove the references to “promotion” or “display” of homosexuality and gender transition to minors. In their place, the text would speak simply of material that can “seriously impair the child’s physical, intellectual, emotional or moral development.”
Prime Minister Peter Magyar, a conservative who won the April election and ended Orban’s 16-year rule, said the rules would apply “regardless of sexual orientation” and bring Hungary in line with EU regulations. “We take an uncompromisingly strict stance against media content accessible to minors that promotes sexual violence, manipulation and exploitation,” he said.
The court and the streets
Pressure from Luxembourg came first. In April the European Court of Justice ruled that the law had violated “the very identity” of the bloc. After that ruling, Hungarian police authorised this year’s Pride marches, which had been banned the year before under Orban.
The government may go further. On Saturday, Magyar said it was considering changing a 2020 law that restricted adoption to married couples, which had in effect barred same-sex couples from adopting.
