Péter Gulácsi, the goalkeeper who stands up to the prime minister

Last Tuesday, the same day that Hungary faced Portugal, at the Ferenc Puskas stadium, which was built at the behest of populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, that country's parliament approved a law that prohibits content that makes reference to homosexuality in schools and in television programs directed at minors.

In a clear challenge to the European Union, the legislation went ahead with the support of the Prime Minister's Fidesz party and the ultra-nationalist formation Jobbik.

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• Orbán challenges the EU with a law that prohibits talking about homosexuality in Hungarian schools

The law joins the one Hungary passed in February that prevents gay couples from adopting children. But with the European Championship in full competition, Orbán had to swallow on Tuesday, from the stadium box, with the presence in the goal of his country's team of one of the popular faces most critical of those laws, the only Hungarian footballer who He has stood up to the prime minister on this matter. Péter Gulácsi (Budapest, 31 years old), RB Leipzig's goalkeeper and former Liverpool player, showed himself, a few months ago, when the February law was approved, totally against Orbán's postulates. Hungary's main goalkeeper published a text on social networks, accompanied by a photograph with his wife, in which he expressed his rejection: “I have lived abroad for more than 14 years, I have met many different people,both in my private life and in professional sports, be it nationality, culture, religion, philosophy of life or whatever else ”, he pointed out. “The more time one spends abroad or among different people, the more one realizes that the fact that they are not all the same will only make the world more colorful and that the most important thing is love, acceptance and tolerance. towards others ”.

Gulácsi declared emphatically: “Everyone has the right to equality.

Just as every child has the right to grow up in a happy family, such a family is formed with any number of people, of any gender, of any color or of any religion ”.

And he concluded: "I support rainbow families! Let's speak out against hate, let's be more receptive and more open."

Gulácsi and his wife support various charities in Hungary.

Last year they donated 69,000 euros to help a child suffering from spinal muscular atrophy.

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• Hungary, the most sheltered team

The goalkeeper's demonstrations caused an earthquake in Hungary. Within hours of its publication, they had received thousands of response messages from their country, much of them against. Media related to the prime minister openly called for the Leipzig goalkeeper to be banished from the Hungarian team. Only some internet portals, such as the critic 444.hu, approved the Gulácsi's decision. “It is a brave position. Very few, if not almost no athletes, especially footballers, particularly spoiled by power, have disagreed with the executive, ”the publication pointed out.

It is not easy to be critical of Orbán in Hungary. Former international soccer player János Hrutka was fired from his job as a commentator on Spiler TV for his support of Gulácsi's statements. He was not the only victim. Viktor Lukács, a journalist for MVA Sport, who worked for the chain in the last World Cup, and who broadcast the Ferencvaros matches in the Champions League, was separated by the state network after giving a "like" on Facebook to the publication on the families of Péter Gulácsi.

The Hungarian national team's starting goalkeeper was the only RB Leipzig player to take part in a campaign by the magazine

11 Freunde

–11 Friends– called “You can count on us”, aimed at gay footballers. The goalkeeper did not put any fault in joining 800 other footballers who play in Germany, despite the fact that the publication maintains an open war with the club, which he considers "a disgrace for football culture", and that was the reason for the rest of the staff will decline to take part.

In the Hungarian Federation, which is now dealing with a protest before UEFA over some homophobic banners during Hungary-Portugal, they navigate the situation as best they can. Its president, Sándor Csányi, assures: “If the statements are not exclusive or racist, we must be able to live with them, we must accept that people think differently. No one can be put at a disadvantage by their opinion ”.

On the opposite side, Hertha Berlin's goalkeeping coach, the also Hungarian Zsolt Petry, was fired a few weeks after Gulácsi's statement in February, when the adoption law was passed, after protesting against his words:

“I do

n't even understand how Europe can sink morally as deeply as it is now. Immigration policy for me is a manifestation of moral decline. I do not object to Peter's opinion, I even think that it is conceivable that a small child would feel good in a gay family. I just ask that this is not the norm. Europe is a Christian continent, I am reluctant to see the moral degradation that is spreading throughout the continent, "he said.

Meanwhile, Péter Gulácsi will once again be Hungary's goalkeeper against France, this Saturday (15.00), in the second match of the competition.

Together with his companions, he will sing "God blesses the Hungarians."

Perhaps it is the only thing in which he will agree with Viktor Orbán.

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