Hungary's parliament passed a bill amending the 2021 'child protection law,' repealing most restrictions on LGBTQ+ content. The move follows a European Court of Justice ruling that the original law violated EU treaties.
Hungary's parliament passed a bill on Tuesday amending the 2021 "child protection law," a move considered the first significant reversal of restrictions targeting the LGBTQ+ community enacted under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The amendment repeals most of the statute, retaining only provisions that protect under-18s from sexually explicit or violent material.
The original 2021 law introduced restrictions on the "portrayal" or "promotion" of sexual and gender diversity in content accessible to children. According to DW, this resulted in books addressing these topics being sold in black plastic packaging with warnings. The new amendment lifts these restrictions. Instead, the law will aim to protect under-18s from material that can "seriously impair the child’s physical, intellectual, emotional or moral development," as stated by Kuwait Times.
The bill passed with the support of the governing majority. DW reports that 139 lawmakers voted in favor and 51 against. Kuwait Times notes that the governing Tisza party holds a comfortable two-thirds majority, sufficient to pass the bill without opposition support. Orban’s Fidesz party is expected to vote against the amendment, accusing the government of "neutering" the original law under EU pressure.
The European Court of Justice ruled in April that the 2021 law violated EU treaties. Kuwait Times specifies that the court found the law breached "the very identity" of the bloc. Following the parliamentary vote, the European Union unfroze €4.2 billion ($4.7 billion) in funding to Hungary, according to DW.
EU commissioners Michael McGrath and Hadja Lahbib issued a joint statement welcoming the vote. "We welcome this important signal of commitment for our common values," they said.
Viktor Orban was voted out of office in April, ending 16 years in power. His successor, Peter Magyar, is a conservative and immigration hardliner who promised to break with Orban's repressive policies on media, the judiciary, and other issues. Magyar stated that the changes would bring Hungary in line with European Union rules. However, he presented the changes not as a restoration of rights but as a strengthening of child protection rules "regardless of sexual orientation."
Tamas Dombos of the Hatter Society rights group called the removal of restrictions on access to LGBTQ content "definitely an important and positive step forward." However, he noted that "there is still a lot to do," pointing to laws that prevent legal recognition of transgender people and adoption by same-sex couples.
Human Rights Watch stated that the amendments "left other discriminatory provisions in Hungarian law intact," including section 5/A of the Family Protection Act. The organization also noted that the bill did not address discriminatory language in Hungary’s constitution or restrictions in the Freedom of Assembly Act "that have been used to prohibit Pride and other LGBT-related assemblies."
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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