Budapest, Hungary — A Hungarian law banning the availability of LGBTQ+ content to minors violates EU law and a fundamental treaty guaranteeing respect for human rights and equality, the bloc’s court ruled on Tuesday.
The European Court of Justice stated that Hungarian law, Adopted in 2021 LGBTQ+ individuals have been “stigmatized and marginalized” by the nationalist-populist government of outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and has failed to uphold the EU’s prohibition of discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation.
The Hungarian law, which was widely criticized by human rights groups, prohibited the display of material depicting homosexuality or gender transition to minors, while also providing for harsh penalties for crimes of pedophilia.
The government argued over its policies, including a recent law and constitutional amendment Popular Budapest Pride event effectively bannedDemanded to protect children from “sexual propaganda”.
But critic of law He compared it to Russia’s 2013 homosexual propaganda law and said it links homosexuality with pedophilia. last year, More than 100,000 people participated in the Budapest Pride march Disregarding government restrictions.
In its ruling, the Luxembourg-based court found that, for the first time in an action against one of the EU’s 27 member states, Hungary has violated Article 2 of the bloc’s founding treaty, which defines “the values ​​of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities.”
It also found that the law violated rules related to services in the EU internal market, as well as data protection laws.
Orban’s government was defeated in a landslide election Orbán’s 16 years in power were ended on 12 April by the center-right Tisza party and its leader, Peter Magyar.
Magyar’s government is expected to take office in mid-May, and has promised to take a more constructive approach to its relations with the EU.
During his election campaign, Magyar was cautious about engaging in Orbán’s culture-war debate on LGBTQ+ rights. But in his victory speech on 12 April he said that Hungary would become a country “where no one will be stigmatized for loving someone different from the majority.”
