Hungary to amend anti-LGBTQ law to align with EU standards

Hungary’s government has submitted a bill to parliament to amend anti-LGBTQ rules for minors that were introduced under former nationalist leader Viktor Orban.

The law, which was created as an add-on to the country’s existing child protection regulations in 2021, banned the “promotion of homosexuality” to under-18s. The same law was later used to ban Pride marches.

Activists and leaders across the European Union had criticised the law for stigmatising LGBTQ people and linking same-sex relations to paedophilia.

The bill submitted on Monday aims to remove references in the 2021 legislation banning the “promotion” or “display” of homosexuality and gender transition to minors.

It would now refer simply to material that can “seriously impair the child’s physical, intellectual, emotional or moral development”.

Conservative Prime Minister Peter Magyar, who won the election in April, ending Orban’s 16-year rule, said the rules would apply “regardless of sexual orientation” and bring the country 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.

In April, the EU’s top tribunal, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), ruled that the law had violated “the very identity” of the bloc.