Parliament withdraws an amendment encouraging the denunciation of LGBT+ people

It was passed by Parliament in April. The section of a law targeting LGBT+ people in Hungary, which allowed anonymous reporting of those who “challenging” the constitutional definition of marriage, family and gender was abolished by the Hungarian Parliament on Tuesday May 23.

This amendment to a 2014 text on whistleblowers expanded the list of areas for which citizens can report. In order to “to protect the Hungarian way of life”the amendment allowed the denunciation of “any questioning of the marriage”, enshrined in the Constitution since 2019 as the union between a man and a woman. He also encouraged the denunciation of people denying “the right of children to have an identity corresponding to their sex at birth”.

The text had been strongly criticized by human rights associations, as completing a legal arsenal fueling hatred against sexual and gender minorities. Hungarian President Katalin Novak vetoed the law and sent it back to parliament for review, saying the “vaguely worded provision did not effectively protect the values ​​set forth in the Constitution”. A modified version was therefore approved by the deputies on Tuesday.

A series of bans in five years

Since 2018, Hungary has been gradually changing its legislation as part of the societal project of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who wants to establish a “new illiberal era”. It has banned gender studies, the registration of gender change in civil status or even adoption by homosexual couples.

It is also no longer possible to discuss gender change or homosexuality with minors, under a law adopted in 2021. An infringement procedure, supported by 15 EU countries, has been opened by the European Commission.