by Jonathon Van Maren, The European Conservative
A movement that started as a protest against discrimination and advocacy for equal rights has turned into nude fetishistic displays that make even some LGBT people uncomfortable.
On March 18th, Hungarian lawmakers passed a ban on Pride Parades and public events promoting LGBT ideology by a margin of 136 to 27. The ban amends the Child Protection Act passed in 2021, which forbade the promotion of LGBT ideology in middle schools and on primetime TV shows and resulted in an ongoing lawsuit against Hungary from the European Union.
Like the 2021 law, the new measure is intended to protect children from “early exposure” to LGBT ideology through public events that “promote and present gender nonconformity, gender reassignment, and homosexuality,” and mandates fines ranging from €15 and €500 for organizers or attendees.
After the vote, PM Viktor Orbán posted on X: “Today, we voted to ban gatherings that violate child protection laws. In Hungary, a child’s right to healthy physical, mental, intellectual, and moral development comes first. We won’t let woke ideology endanger our kids.”
LGBT activists both inside and outside Hungary are outraged. The organizers of Budapest Pride called the move “fascism” and insisted that they would hold their annual June Pride march. EU equality commissioner Hadja Lahbib stated: “The right to gather peacefully is a fundamental right to be championed across the European Union. We stand with the LGBTQI community—in Hungary & in all Member States.” LGBT protestors rallied outside parliament and blocked Budapest’s Margaret Bridge. The standard denunciations from “human rights” NGOs arrived on schedule.