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A protester protests in front of the Hungarian Parliament with a photomontage showing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in rainbow colors
Photo: GERGELY BESENYEI / AFP
Books, films and other media that show a sexuality that deviates from the heterosexual one will in future be forbidden for children and young people in Hungary.
The Hungarian parliament approved a corresponding law with the votes of the right-wing.
In addition, any type of advertising in which homosexuals or transsexuals appear as part of normalcy is prohibited.
The provisions are part of a legislative package that also provides for stricter penalties for sexual violence against children and young people.
It also provides for the creation of a so-called "pedophile register".
The law is a particular concern of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, whom critics accuse of stirring up prejudice against minorities.
They fear efforts to introduce anti-gay censorship based on the Russian model in the EU country Hungary.
Orbán has already attracted attention in the past through statements that critics classified as xenophobic and homophobic.
Left left the room in protest
The Orbán government, on the other hand, justified the legislative package with the desire to protect the “right of children to their gender identity received at birth”.
LGBT community associations and human rights organizations condemned it as discriminatory.
It would encourage censorship and "trample" the rights of homosexual and transsexual young people, they said in their statements.
157 MPs from the ruling right-wing national Fidesz party and the right-wing Jobbik party, which is part of the opposition, voted for the law on Tuesday.
A non-attached leftist voted against it.
MPs from the left and liberal parties left the meeting room to protest against the law before the vote.
The Hungarian Parliament has 199 members.
mrc / dpa
