Hungary passed a law on Tuesday banning an annual LGBT “pride” march in Budapest, citing the protection of children.
“Today, we voted to ban gatherings that violate child protection laws,” wrote Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, on X Tuesday. “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.”
The law, submitted and passed by Orbán’s Fidesz party, makes it illegal to put on or attend events that violate the country’s 2021 Child Protection Act, which banned the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors.
The main event now outlawed in Hungary by this legislation is the annual, weeklong Budapest “pride” festival, which has previously drawn public protests. Attending any LGBT event banned under the law can now be punished with fines of up to 200,000 Hungarian forints ($546). These fines would reportedly be used to fund child protection.
Hungary’s Child Protection law prohibits the display or promotion of homosexuality through any means, including television, film, advertisements, and literature.
Members of the opposition party Momentum protested the legislation during Tuesday’s vote in the National Assembly Hall by setting off colored smoke flares and scattering obscene, doctored photos depicting Orbán and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Reuters.
Budapest “pride” festival organizers have defiantly declared they will hold their LGBT celebrations this year, despite a legal ban.
As prime minister of Hungary, Orbán has been a firm, active supporter of traditional family values. He declared to Parliament after being re-elected in 2022, “We shall protect our families, we shall not let gender activists into our schools, and in Hungary a father shall be a man, a mother a woman, and our children shall be left alone.”