Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Brussels, June 28, 2016 -

THIERRY CHARLIER AFP

"Leave our children alone," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Sunday, protesting against a children's book featuring homosexual characters.

"Hungary has laws on homosexuality, which are based on an exceptionally tolerant and patient approach," the sovereignist leader said in an interview on public radio.

“But there is a red line not to be crossed,” he continued, criticizing an “act of provocation”.

"To sum up my opinion: leave our children alone," he said.

Reverse since Viktor Orban came to power

Viktor Orban was questioned about a manual published by an association of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and adapting famous tales and legends with characters from marginalized minorities (disabled, poor, Roma, LGBT ... ).

So in one story Cinderella is lesbian, in another a dragon slayer is transgender.

A spontaneous movement of civil society demanded the withdrawal of the book from the market, and a far-right elected official even tore up a copy at a press conference.

The Association of Booksellers and Publishers condemned these reactions, comparing them to the attitude of "Nazi and Communist" censors, while the manual took advantage of this unintentional publicity to climb to the top of sales.

Returning to power in 2010, the sovereignist Prime Minister established a conservative era in a country that wanted to be rather avant-garde: homosexuality had been decriminalized there from the beginning of the 1960s and the civil union between spouses of the same sex recognized since 1996.

Violation of EU values

Viktor Orban has taken a new step forward with his cultural “new era” project, launched in 2018, aimed at defending Christian and traditional values.

Among the most emblematic measures of its policy, Hungary, a member of the European Union since 2004, in 2018 removed gender studies from the list of university courses, an interdisciplinary field of research on social relations between the sexes.

The same year, Elton John's musical Billy Elliot was deprogrammed from the National Opera for lack of reservations after a pro-government media campaign accused the work of promoting homosexuality.

Last May, Budapest banned the registration of sex reassignment in the civil registry and legal recognition of the gender identity of transgender people, despite numerous international protests.

The European Parliament activated in September 2018 a procedure under Article 7 of the Union Treaty for breach of EU values, which can in theory lead to sanctions.

World

Hungary: A reform aims to prohibit the registration of the change of sex in the civil status

Society

Mockery, insults, brakes in the career ... LGBTphobia is also suffered at work

  • Hungary

  • Homosexual

  • World

  • Lgbt