Hungary government submits Bill to roll back Orban-era anti-LGBTQ+ rules

The Bill would remove anti-LGBTQ+ rules prohibiting the “promotion of homosexuality” to under-18s.

BUDAPEST – Hungary’s government submitted a Bill to Parliament late on Sept 14 that would remove anti-LGBTQ+ rules prohibiting the “promotion of homosexuality” to under-18s implemented by Viktor Orban’s former nationalist government.

Orban’s government, which was ousted after 16 years in an election in April, promoted a Christian-conservative agenda and in 2021 banned the “display and promotion of homosexuality” and gender change in media content accessible by under-18s.

Orban said the anti-LGBTQ+ laws were to protect children, but the restriuctions attracted strong criticism from rights groups and the European Union.

Hungary’s new Justice Minister Marta Gorog said in May that Hungary would need to revise legislation restricting access to LGBTQ+ content after the EU’s top court ruled in April that the restrictions breached EU law and contributed to the stigmatisation and marginalisation of gay and transgender people.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar, who swept to power in April, has pledged to repair ties with the EU. Putting Hungary back into the EU’s mainstream also requires addressing concerns over democratic standards and minority rights.

The draft Bill would ban materials that can “seriously impair the child’s physical, intellectual, emotional or moral development”.

“The proposal focuses on the actual dangers facing children. Protection centres on pornographic and age-inappropriate sexual content, the sexual exploitation and abuse of children, sexual solicitation and manipulation, as well as other content that severely harms children’s physical, intellectual, emotional, or moral development,” the legislation says.

Magyar said on Sept 12 that his government would also change rules that had effectively banned gay adoption. REUTERS