EU state amends constitution to ban gay parades

Hungarian MPs have passed changes declaring that children’s rights to moral development supersede the right to peaceful assembly

The Hungarian parliament has approved a constitutional amendment that upholds a ban on public LGBTQ+ events earlier introduced in the country.

Hungarian MPs voted in legislation last month prohibiting gay parades and allowing the authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify their participants and issue fines of $500. The law was introduced by the ruling Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has declared his government “illiberal” and has vowed to protect the country’s children from “the international gender network” and “woke ideology.”

On Monday, MPs adopted an amendment to Hungary’s principal law that codifies the ban, with 140 votes in favor and 21 against.

Ahead of the vote, pro-EU opposition politicians and LGBTQ+ activists attempted to block the entrance to the parliamentary parking garage to prevent Fidesz lawmakers from entering the building. Police intervened to remove the protesters, who used zip ties to bind themselves together. Several arrests were reported.

Opposition lawmakers used air horns in an attempt to disrupt the proceedings inside the parliament, although the National Assembly speaker continued with the vote despite the disturbance.

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An MP for the opposition Momentum party, David Bedo, claimed that over the past 15 years Orban and Fidesz “have been dismantling democracy and the rule of law and in the past two or three months, we see that this process has been sped up.”

The new amendment declares that children’s rights to moral, physical, and spiritual development supersede any right other than the right to life, including the right to a peaceful assembly.

The constitution now states that Hungary protects the right of children to self-identify in accordance with the sex assigned at birth and ensures a system of values based on the country’s Christian culture.

It also identifies the institution of marriage as a voluntary “union of one man and one woman” and the family as the basis of the survival of the nation.

Hungary outlawed LGBTQ+ “propaganda” to minors in 2021, which led to the European Commission launching legal action against Budapest and freezing billions in EU funds over alleged violations of fundamental rights.

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Orban praised the passing of the amendment in a post on X on Monday, saying that “we are protecting children’s development, affirming that a person is born either male or female, and standing firm against drugs and foreign interference. In Hungary, common sense matters.”