Hungarian far-right Prime Minister Victor Orban announced that his government will hold a national referendum on “child protection”, which is a euphemism for some regions. Recent law Widely condemned as discriminatory, any portrayal of LGBT people in child-oriented materials is prohibited.
“LGBTQ activists visit kindergartens and schools and offer sex education courses. They want to do this here Hungary It’s the same,” Orban said in a Facebook video statement released on Wednesday.
The referendum will have five questions, mainly expressed in the main language. One of the questions is: “Do you support showing minors with sexual media content that can affect their development without any restrictions?”
Orban announced a referendum three days before the Budapest Pride Parade on Saturday.
Hungary’s new law came into effect at the beginning of this month. It seems to confuse homosexuality and pedophilia, and partly imitates Russia’s laws prohibiting so-called “homosexual propaganda” among minors. Hungarian law goes a step further and criminalizes “promoting or portraying” homosexuality or gender redistribution to minors. It also restricts sex education in schools to government-approved organizations.
Last month, European Commission President Ursula von der Lein described the bill as “a disgrace” and discriminatory. “I will use all legal powers [the] The European Commission ensures that the rights of all EU citizens are protected,” she wrote On Twitter.
Orban will face an election against the newly formed opposition alliance next spring, which may be a close match. After years of campaigns against refugees and immigrants, fierce anti-LGBT rhetoric seems to be part of a political strategy to find new targets to consolidate support for Orban’s Fidesz party.
“The future of our children is at stake, so we can’t let Brussels do whatever we want,” Orban said.
“The Prime Minister asked the Hungarians to say no to these issues, just as we did to prevent forced immigration from Brussels five years ago,” Orban’s spokesperson Zoltan Kovac said in a blog post.
In fact, the 2016 referendum on mandatory immigration quotas did not reach the 50% turnout required to be binding, even though the vast majority of votes supported the government.
Human rights organizations stated that the referendum may increase discrimination and stigma against the Hungarian LGBT community and make the lives of LGBT children more difficult and dangerous.
“Organizing a referendum to deprive a few people of their basic rights reminds us of Europe in the 1930s,” said Rémy Bonny, a Belgian. LGBT rights Activists, in a statement. “This referendum [is] Not only putting the LGBTIQ community back in the closet, it also endangers the basic rights of children. “
