Controversial constitutional change in Hungary adopted, the government can prohibit LGBTI events

The Hungarian Parliament adopted a controversial constitutional amendment on Monday that allows the government to prohibit LGBTI events. The amendment was accepted with a majority of 140 votes against 20 votes against. With the amendment to the law, the rights of the LGBTI community in the EU member state are further limited.

The change in the law does not fall from the sky. In February, the Kremlin-minded Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán announced that he would have dealt with the « liberal networks » in his country before the Easter weekend.

A month ago, the anti-LHBTI amendment was submitted by Fidesz, Prime Minister Orbán’s party, and accelerated by the parliamentary machine. Due to the vast majority of the right-wing populist party and the Christian coalition party KDNP in the Hungarian Parliament, it was likely that the amendment would indeed be implemented.

Deterrent

The change anchores the recognition of only two genera (m/f), which provides a constitutional basis for denying the gender identity of some non-binary citizens in Hungary. In addition, it paves the way for authorities to use face recognition software to identify and possibly fine participants of the Pride.

At the end of last month, the parliament forbade the Budapest Pride. The thirtieth edition of the Pride-Mars attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year. At the time that the bill was submitted, the organizers already announced to let the mars continue. The opposition party Momentum states on Monday that the amendment to the law will be used as a ‘deterrent’ for people to participate in the Mars.

Not only the LGBTI community will feel the consequences of the new law. With the implementation of the amendment, the Hungarian government is also authorized to suspend the citizenship of Hungarian citizens with dual nationality « who pose a threat to the safety or sovereignty of the country ».

Resistance

The proposal led to great resistance in recent weeks. Hungarians took to the streets en masse to protest against the ‘dismantling of democracy’. 22 European embassies in Hungary, including those of the United Kingdom, France and Germany, also issued a joint statement in which they said they were very concerned that the legislation would lead to « restrictions on the right to peaceful meeting and freedom of expression ».

Orbán’s party previously introduced several laws that reduce the rights of the LGBTI community. In 2021, for example, teaching materials and advertisements were forbidden to ‘popularize’ sex with someone of the same sex among children, or in which homosexuality is shown or a person’s gender identity is confirmed.

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