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People take photos of a rainbow colored heart set up by activists in front of the Hungarian Parliament
Photo: MARTON MONUS / REUTERS
The European Parliament has sharply criticized the new Hungarian law on dealing with homosexuality and transsexuality in schools.
In a resolution, a majority of MPs condemned the law "in the strongest" way.
The regulation hollowed out democracy in Hungary, it was said.
The EU Commission and the other member states are requested to take legal action against Hungary immediately.
459 MPs voted for the bill, 147 MPs voted no, 58 abstained.
The law that censors information about homosexuality and transgender people in schools went into effect Thursday.
In Budapest, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said attempts by the EU to thwart the law have come to nothing.
Only Hungary can decide for itself how children are brought up and educated in the country.
Government wants to deny LGBTQ activists access to schools
LGBTQ activists also have no access to schools and kindergartens.
LGBTQ is the abbreviation borrowed from English for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.
Orbán described the measure as a question of national sovereignty.
He has ruled with the right-wing conservative Fidesz party since 2010. In the EU, he has also been criticized for his dealings with the media and the judiciary.
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The censorship law now provides that books, films and other media in which a sexuality is shown that deviates from the heterosexual one will in future be forbidden for children and young people in Hungary.
In addition, in June the Hungarian parliament also banned any form of advertising in which homosexuals or transsexuals appear as part of normalcy.
A legal opinion commissioned by several MEPs recently came to the conclusion that violations of the rule of law in Hungary threatened to seriously impair the protection of the European Union's financial interests.
This would in principle meet the prerequisites for a procedure to reduce EU funds.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had already announced that such a procedure would be launched in the autumn.
Hungarian law called them a "disgrace".
LGBTQ supporters protest in Budapest
Meanwhile, supporters of the LGBTQ scene demonstrated again against the law in Hungary.
"We will not change any of our LGBTQ education programs or any of our campaigns because of a homophobic and transphobic law," said the head of the human rights organization Amnesty International Hungary, David Vig, in Budapest.
As a sign of protest, he stood in front of a ten-meter-high rainbow-colored heart.
Luca Dudits, a board member of the LGBT rights group Hatter Society, accused the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of taking away citizens' rights while portraying himself as a "freedom fighter" abroad.
LGBT activist Dorottya Redai, who lectures on homophobia and bullying in schools, was also concerned: "Teachers will now be afraid to invite us to their schools," she said.
fek / Reuters
