The Hungarian legislators passed a law on Tuesday that prohibited pride events and enabled the authorities to identify facial recognition software in order to identify the participants and continued a procedure of the right populist party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the country’s 2LGBTQ+ community.
The law, which was supported by Orbans Fidesz Party and its partner of the minority coalition, which was supported by the Christian Democrats, was pushed by the parliament in an accelerated procedure after it had only been submitted the day before. The measure was passed in a vote of 136-27.
It changes the Hungarian law against the assembly to make it a criminal offense, lead or participate in events that violate the controversial “child protection” on Hungary, which prohibits the “presentation or promotion” of homosexuality compared to minors under the age of 18.
Participation in a forbidden event leads to fines up to 200,000 Hungarian Forints (785 US dollars), which the state must forward to “child protection” in accordance with the law. The authorities can use facial recognition instruments to identify people who take part in a forbidden event.
When the coordination in the Hungary Parliament was held in Budapest, the legislators of the opposition lasered smoke bombs in the chamber and filled them with thick clouds of smoke.
Budapest Pride Slams legislation
Budapest Pride, who picks up its 30th anniversary this year, is scheduled to take place on June 28th.
In a declaration on Monday, after the legislators had submitted the bill for the first time, the organizers of Budapest Pride said that the aim of the law was to make the 2SLGBTQ+ stunality to “scapegoat” in order to silence voices that criticized Orban.
“This is not child protection, that is fascism,” wrote the organizers. “The government is trying to restrict peaceful protests with a critical voice by appealing a minority. Therefore, we will fight as a movement to demonstrate the freedom of all Hungarians!”
The Orban government has passed other laws over the years in which legal groups and other European politicians have sentenced sexual minorities to repressive.
In 2022, the Executive Commission of the European Union submitted a case to the highest court in the EU against the Child Protection Act 2021.
The European Commission argued that the law “discriminates against people due to its sexual orientation and gender identity”. The government in Hungary portrays itself as an advocate of traditional family values and defenders of Christian civilization from what it describes as a “gender madness” and argues that their policy is intended to protect children from “sexual propaganda”.
In addition to the ban on the “representation or promotion” of homosexuality in content that is available to minors – including on television, films, advertising and literature – – the “child protection” replacement of Hungary also prohibits the mention of 2LGBTQ+ topics in school education programs and prohibits the public presentation of “gender deviation from sex deviation from gender at birth”.
