The streets of Budapest were in the colors of the rainbow flag on Monday in order to defend and support the LGBT community but also and above all to disapprove of discrimination.

More than 5,000 Hungarians demonstrated in the Hungarian capital against a law expected to be approved by Parliament on Tuesday and which will ban the “representation” of homosexuality and transsexuality in public space.

"When MPs vote they will have to remember that they are playing with people's lives in their cruel political campaigns," said Amnesty International, who called for the protest.

If the legislation is passed, freedom of expression and rights will be "severely curtailed," NGOs have said, accusing Hungary of copying dictatorial models that go against European values.

More of "Bridget Jones", "Harry Potter" or "Billy Eliot"

A commercial television channel, RTL Klub Hungary, said on Monday that if the law is passed, films like 

Bridget Jones

,

Harry Potter 

or

Billy Eliot

, in which homosexuality is mentioned, should be prohibited for minors. Educational programs or advertisements, such as Coca-Cola's depicting a male couple who sparked boycott calls in 2019, would also no longer be allowed. It will be the same for books, such as the collection of tales and legends defrauding homosexuality, which had drawn the wrath of the nationalist power of Viktor Orban in the fall of 2020.

The amendments in question are part of an arsenal of measures for the protection of minors and aimed at combating pedophilia, an amalgam denounced by the independent website Telex.

These include the creation of a database of convicted persons accessible to the public, or their banning from certain professions.

However, the EU bans discrimination

In December, Hungary had already made adoption by same-sex couples impossible and prohibited the registration of the change of sex in the civil registry. "It is becoming more and more uncomfortable to live here, not just for gays but for everyone actually," said one protester, Attila Kelemen, 23, who works as a school psychologist. According to him, “this type of permanent propaganda causes people to be lost. And mixing homosexuality with sex crimes is disgusting ”.

Hungary has been a member of the European Union (EU) since 2004, whose Charter of Fundamental Rights prohibits any discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Before the return to power of Viktor Orban in 2010, it was one of the most progressive countries in the region: homosexuality had been decriminalized there from the beginning of the 1960s and the civil union between spouses of the same sex recognized since 1996.

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  • Homophobia

  • Lgbt

  • Homosexuality

  • Hungary

  • Budapest

  • Viktor Orban

  • World