On May 5, 2020, parliament blocked ratification of a regional treaty on violence against women, the Istanbul Convention. “It is an ideology, not a science”, was the government’s reasoning. In 2018, university programmes in gender studies were banned in Hungary. As such, using the English word is seemingly very useful for those who want to demonise it. The term “társadalmi nem” (social sex) exists in Hungarian, but the word “gender” does not. Orbán said “gender” was an “ideologically motivated expression”. In May, Poland and Hungary joined forces to seek the removal of the phrase “gender equality” from a declaration on advancing social cohesion in the EU. ‘Anti-gender ideology’ as a political weapon Some believe this was the reason for parliament’s haste in voting through the bill. The first likely target of the new law is Budapest’s Pride March, scheduled for late July, which the authorities may now try to ban. The government has therefore needed to narrow its ‘gender ideology’ campaign to sexual minorities. Interestingly however, Hungarians are much less religious than Poles and proposals to limit abortion rights have gained little traction.
“During the pandemic it has become clear that when the government needs a popularity boost or just some distraction, they propose something homophobic, because their voters can relate to it,” Péter Urfi, a journalist who has written widely on sexual abuse in the church in Hungary, tells Emerging Europe. European Social Survey data show that public opinion in Central and Eastern Europe is far more negative towards the issue than in Western Europe. Opinion polls indicate that a newly united opposition is now running neck and neck with Fidesz.ĭuring Europe’s refugee crisis of 2015, surveys showed that about 60 per cent of Hungarians by and large shared the government’s hardline stance on refugees. Some have called the new law a cynical move to shore up support for Orbán’s ruling Fidesz’s party ahead of parliamentary elections in 2022. It goes against the fundamental values of the European Union: human dignity, equality and respect for human rights.” A political ploy? “This bill clearly discriminates against people based on their sexual orientation.
“This Hungarian bill is a shame,” von der Leyen said in a statement. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said she would use all her powers to force Hungary to reverse the law. There is no similar law anywhere in the EU that is so hostile to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, Luca Dudits, an executive board member with the Háttér Society, a Budapest-based LGBT rights group, told The Associated Press. The law’s critics however say it will further alienate and isolate an already beleaguered LGBT+ community in Hungary, while also pushing Budapest further towards the “illiberal democracy” its prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has long said he wants to create. “We will not apologise for protecting our children,” added State Secretary Zoltán Kovács, who is responsible for government propaganda abroad. “This law doesn’t say anything about the sexual orientation of adults.” “The law protects the children in a way that it makes it an exclusive right of parents to educate their kids regarding sexual orientation until the age of 18,” he said. Five inspiring Roma figures from emerging Europeįoreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has said the law was only aimed at pedophiles.Fudan Budapest is not the answer to Hungary’s higher education needs.Imitating Russia, Hungary bans ‘gay’ content – and that includes rainbow flags.
To an international chorus of alarm, the Hungarian government last week passed a law that bans content aimed at the under-18s which is deemed by the authorities to “promote” homosexuality, be it in schools, on TV or advertisements. Pedophilia is an import from a degenerating West, government supporters say, as the ruling Fidesz party rolls out a new law its critics say wrongly targets LGBT+ people and misses real issues of child abuse.
Child sex abuse within families or the Catholic Church is usually a taboo subject in Hungary.