Anti-LGBTQ+ Law Protested in Front of Hungarian Parliament

The Hungarian office of Amnesty International has led a protest in front of the Országház, the Hungarian Parliament Building. The activists are demonstrating against the anti-LGBTQ+ law which prohibits “promoting” homosexuality or gender reassignment in television shows, films and sexual education programs at schools.

The law has drawn an extraordinarily unified condemnation from both the European Union and the heads of state and the government of its individual member states. During last month’s summit, Hungary stood alone with the many countries calling the law “ridiculous”, “discriminatory” and “in violation of European values”. Commission President Ursula von der Leyes called the law a shame and the Netherlands called upon Hungary to leave if it did not want to play by the rules. Sweden said its citizens were not going to continue to fund countries like Hungary.

Amnesty Hungary said in a tweet that it stands in solidarity with the approximately 100,000 LGBTQ+ youngsters in the country that will not face more stigmatization and discrimination. It also says that a survey amongst Hungarians show that the majority is against the law.

Nevertheless, the law is firmly implemented. Today a bookshop chain has received a fine of 250,000 forints (€ 700) for a book in which two stories by US author Lawrence Schimel are combined about a young girl with two fathers and a young boy with two mothers. According to the new law, books with LGBTQ+ content need to issue a warning saying the content “deviates from the norm and is inconsistent behavior with traditional gender roles”. According to the Pest County Commissioner, Richard Tarnai, “There is no way of knowing that this book is about a family that is different than a normal family”.

Besides widespread condemnation in the European Union, with exceptions from like-minded Eastern European countries like Slovenia and Poland, Hungarian publishers and bookselling associations also protested against the law, saying it “restricts freedom of the arts and speech”.

Orban wrote in response to the protests on Facebook that “the European Parliament and the European Commission want that we let LGBTQ activists and organizations into the kindergartens and schools. Hungary does not want that. Here, Brussels bureaucrats have no business at all, no matter what they do, we will not let LGBTQ activists amongst our children”.

He finished by saying it was an issue of national sovereignty, forgetting that the European Union has legally binding and rectified treaties, directives and laws which Hungary, as part of the Union, needs to obey.