Enlarge image
Protests against censorship: Thousands of people took to the streets in Budapest on Monday to demonstrate against the Fidesz government's anti-LGBTQ law
Photo: MARTON MONUS / REUTERS
Around 6 p.m. on a Wednesday evening, Bálint Rigó sets out for the »Széchenyi tér«, the main square of Pécs, in the south of Hungary. There the 27-year-old and other activists stuck white, handwritten notes on the statue of a Hungarian military leader from the 15th century. One of the pieces of paper says: "If I had known as a child that I was bisexual, I would not have tried to kill myself."
Rigó is there to protest a law that de facto prohibits any form of non-heterosexual content for minors.
It's about the content of school lessons, but also about Hollywood films.
For children growing up in Hungary, content about gays, lesbians, transsexuals, bisexuals and queer people should disappear from schools and the public stage.
Hence the idea with the slips of paper.
People use it to tell their coming-out stories or leave short messages.
The main thing is that they are clearly visible.
Another note comes from a mother: “For my son.
I love you mom".
The opposition did not take part in the vote in parliament
The anti-LGBTQ law was passed by the Hungarian parliament last Tuesday.
The vote was 157 to one.
MEPs from Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's ruling party, Fidesz, and members of parliament from the far-right opposition party Jobbik voted in favor.
The rest of the opposition left the parliament room in protest and did not take part in the vote.
"Many children will no longer have a platform to express themselves freely," says Rigó in the video call shortly before the demo.
He is co-founder of the organization »Diverse Youth Network«, which has been campaigning for the rights of the LGBTQ community and other minorities such as Roma and Jews in Hungary for three years.
Implicit link between homosexuality and pedophilia
What annoys Rigó most about the law is the fact that it was linked to a package of measures against pedophilia and sexual violence against children: »There are homosexual and heterosexual pedophiles. One has nothing to do with the other. «He is particularly concerned about the image of homosexuals:» This will have huge effects in the future, especially for people who have no access to education and cannot keep the two things separate ", he says. There will be more hatred, exclusion and discrimination.
Rigó sees the implicit connection between homosexuality and pedophilia as an extreme provocation.
But the censoring law is just one of the anti-LGBTQ measures that Orbán's government has implemented.
In May of last year, a law was passed that prohibits changing the biological sex in the person register.
Last December, homosexuals were banned from adopting children.
Orbán's strategic provocations
Rigó sees a clearly recognizable pattern behind the latest resolutions: "The government always picks out a minority and tries to create an enemy image for the majority society," he says.
"It used to be the refugees, then the Roma, now it's the turn of the LGBTQ community."
Indeed, such provocations are not new, especially when elections are imminent.
Before the 2019 European elections, Viktor Orbán publicly referred to the social democratic candidate Frans Timmermans as a mercenary of the Hungarian-born US billionaire George Soros.
A year before that, Hungary's parliament had passed a legislative package called the "STOP Soros Package", which provides for the prosecution of refugee workers.
The law is intended to weaken the opposition alliance
The new anti-LGBTQ law also has a clear domestic political function before the next election in spring 2022: "The very first political goal of this law is to split the opposition," says Daniel Hegedüs, political and Hungary expert from the US foundation German Marshall Fund (GMF).
Parliamentary elections will take place in Hungary in the spring of next year. Orbán and his party are considered favorites. Nevertheless, a coalition of all opposition parties was formed at the end of 2020 with the aim of overthrowing Orbán after eleven years. "A serious threat to Fidesz," says Hegedüs. The members of the coalition want to run with a common list and put up a single candidate per constituency in order to have more chances against Fidesz. But because the right-wing extremist Jobbik has now voted for the law together with Fidesz, there are now the first cracks in the coalition from left to right-wing conservative parties, says Hegedüs.
For Hegedüs, other domestic political reasons also play a role - primarily the construction of a 500,000 square meter campus for the Chinese University of Fudan in Budapest.
Thousands of people took to the streets in early June accusing Orbán of having too close a relationship with China.
In addition, the university complex is being built on a site that was intended for inexpensive student housing.
"With this new law, Fidesz was able to divert media and social attention away from Fudan University."
"It's about the conflict of values with the European Union"
In addition to tactical considerations, there are ideological reasons behind the initiative, says the expert: “It's about the conflict of values with the European Union. With the help of the new law, Orbán can continue to position himself against the EU and distinguish himself as a protector of the country against everything European. On Tuesday, the EU Commissioner for Gender Equality threatened sanctions against Hungary based on the law. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised that the Commission would examine the law.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to observe a new survey by the French market research institute Ipsos.
According to this, the Hungarian population is not as hostile towards non-heterosexual people as one might think from the outside.
For example, 62 percent of the Hungarian respondents are of the opinion that same-sex couples can raise children just as well as heterosexual parents.
“If so, Orbán can hardly win over undecided voters with a law like this.
On the contrary, ”says Hegedüs.
Despite all the optimism, the fact remains that the new law could further stigmatize the LGBTQ community in Hungary.
"The Hungarian government is trying to use the LGBTQ community as a scapegoat."
