Hungary’s elected officials have passed a ban on “promoting homosexuality” to minors. The ban includes films, advertising and school supplies.
The ban on “promoting homosexuality” was passed despite protests and the opposition’s boycott. Photo: Szilard Koszticsak / MTI / AP / NTB
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The proposal was adopted on Tuesday by 157 votes to 1 in the National Assembly, which is controlled by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing populist party Fidesz. The far-right party Jobbik also supported the proposal.
Most opposition parties boycotted Tuesday’s vote in protest of discrimination against LGBT people – lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.
On Monday night, more than 5,000 people gathered in a protest outside the National Assembly. LGBT and human rights activists have demonstrated to put pressure on the elected representatives in the hope that the bill would be voted down.
Should not promote homosexuality
The proposal was put forward by Fidesz last week. Its main goal is to combat pedophilia. But it also contains changes that prohibit the display of inclinations other than heterosexuality in schools’ sex education. The same applies to films and commercials aimed at people under 18 years of age.
– To ensure that children’s rights are protected, pornography and content that shows sexuality for its own sake or that shows deviations from gender identity, gender correction and homosexuality cannot be made available to persons under 18 years of age, the legal text states.
Sex education should also not “aim to promote gender segregation, gender correction or homosexuality”, it is further stated.
– Restricts freedom of expression
Critics say the new law is a “sharp curtailment” of freedom of expression and children’s rights. In practice, it entails a ban on training programs and promotional materials from LGBT groups.
LGBT activists in Hungary and international organizations have sharply criticized the bill and have compared it to a Russian law from 2013 that bans gay “propaganda”.
Books with dramatized representations of gays and advertising from companies such as Coca-Cola – which in 2019 promoted acceptance of gays in Hungary – can also be banned.
The TV channel RTL Klub Hungary says popular films such as “Bridget Jones’ diary”, “Harry Potter” and “Billy Elliott” must now be broadcast late at night and with an 18-year age limit.
—-Foto: ARKIVFOTO/SAKCHAI LALIT / AP/ NTB
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