The Hungarian parliament is set to vote on legislation put forward by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government which would outlaw the promotion of transgenderism and alternative sexual orientations to children.
The prohibitions are included in a package of legislation aimed primarily against paedophiles, for example by creating a searchable, photographic register of all child molesters in the country, increasing sentences, and banning them from multiple occupations which might bring them into contact with children, such as jobs on sports teams, at beaches, and zoos.
The legislation would also ban pornographic content aimed at under-18s “as well as content that depicts sexuality for its own sake, or promotes or displays deviations from the identity of the sex of birth, gender reassignment or homosexuality,” according to ABC.
Educational material and advertisements would also be covered by the new rules.
“These proposals, which have dark echoes of Russia’s anti-gay ‘propaganda law,’ will further stigmatize LGBTI [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex] people, exposing them to greater discrimination in what is already a hostile environment,” complained David Vig, the director of Amnesty International in Hungary.
“Tagging these amendments to a bill that seeks to crack down on child abuse appears to be a deliberate attempt by the Hungarian government to conflate paedophilia with LGBTI people,” he added.
The comparison to Russia’s controversial 2013 legislation “for the Purpose of Protecting Children from Information Advocating for a Denial of Traditional Family Values” has been stressed by several mainstream media outlets, including Britain’s publicly-funded British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and America’s government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
Viktor Orbán’s party dispute allegations that the legislation offends against liberty, however, with Gabriella Selmeczi, a member of parliament for his Fidesz party, insisting that “True liberalism is when children are left alone with questions about their sexual orientation until the age of 18.”
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