Hungary’s government has submitted a bill to parliament that would remove references to banning the “promotion” or “display” of homosexuality and gender transition to minors from legislation introduced in 2021. The bill would instead refer to material that can “seriously impair the child’s physical, intellectual, emotional or moral development.”
The proposal has not been described as enacted. Prime Minister Peter Magyar said the revised rules would apply regardless of sexual orientation and align Hungary with European Union regulations.
What the bill would change
The 2021 rules were added to Hungary’s existing child protection regulations under former nationalist leader Viktor Orban. They barred the “promotion of homosexuality” to people under 18 and were later used to ban Pride marches.
Magyar said the government would maintain a strict position against media content accessible to minors that promotes sexual violence, manipulation and exploitation. The bill’s stated standard would cover material considered seriously harmful to a child’s development rather than specifically referring to homosexuality or gender transition. Read the context: EU plan would steer public contracts toward European suppliers.
Why the law became an EU dispute
Activists and leaders across the European Union criticised the rules, saying they stigmatised LGBTQ people and linked same-sex relations to paedophilia. In April, the European Court of Justice ruled that the law had violated “the very identity” of the EU.
After that ruling, Hungarian police authorised this year’s Pride marches. Pride events had been banned the previous year under Orban’s government.
A separate adoption issue
Magyar also said the government was considering changing a 2020 law that restricted adoption to married couples. The restriction had effectively prevented same-sex couples from adopting, but the supplied proposal does not establish that this law has been changed.
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