Hungary’s parliament on Tuesday approved a bill amending a 2021 law targeting the LGBTQ+ community that was passed during former nationalist leader Viktor Orban’s government. The “child protection” law of 2021 introduced restrictions on the “representation” or “promotion” of sexual and gender diversity in content accessible to children. In reality, this meant that even books that addressed these topics in an age-appropriate way could only be sold in black plastic packaging with warnings. Critics argued that the law promoted the bigoted view that automatically linked homosexuality and child abuse. The European Court of Justice also ruled in April that it violated EU treaties. Tuesday’s amendment repeals most of the statute, except for the provision protecting minors under 18 from sexually explicit or violent material. It was approved with the support of the ruling majority, with 139 legislators voting in favor and 51 against. Will the new Hungarian government? Will it bring real change to LGBTQ+ rights? To view this video, please enable JavaScript and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 videos. What caused this change? Hungary’s former Prime Minister Viktor Orban was dismissed in April. While his successor, Peter Magyar, is also a conservative and hard-liner on immigration, he has promised to break with Orban’s repressive policies on the media, the judiciary and other issues. Magyar has vowed to dismantle what he calls the rampant corruption and authoritarian structures established under Orban’s government. “We welcome this important signal of commitment to our common values,” EU commissioners Michael McGrath and Hadja Lahbib said in a joint statement. The bloc then unfrozen 4.2 billion euros ($4.7 billion) in financing for Hungary following the vote. Edited by: Jenipher Camino González and Wesley Dockery If you trust our team for trustworthy reporting, please take a moment to select us as your preferred source on Google by clicking here and pressing the “star” or “preferred” button, so you always see our verified news first.
