Hungary has passed a law banning LGBTQ+ events in public and allowing authorities to use facial recognition to identify those who participate.
The bill to ban Pride celebrations, introduced in Parliament in March, makes it an offense to hold or attend events that violate Hungary’s so-called "child protection" law. Enacted in 2021, the law prohibits the "depiction or promotion" of homosexuality to minors.
The law, passed Monday along party lines in a vote of 140-21, also allows the government to use facial recognition technology to identify those who attend prohibited events, with those found in violations facing fines of up to 200,000 Hungarian forints ($546).
Fidesz, the nation’s ruling conservative party, also introduced a constitutional amending declaring that there are only “two sexes,” against the scientific and medical consensus that sex is a spectrum. The amendment mirrors an executive order from Donald Trump, a close ally of Hungary's authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Protestors gather in Budapest, Hungary, on an illiberal Pride, stating that everyone should be the same, after the government passes legislation banning the pride marches. Balint Szentgallay/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Thousands of Hungarians took to the streets of Budapest on Saturday dressed in muted grays to protest the law. The protest, organized by the satiric anti-establishment political party the Two-tailed Dog Party, featured protestors carrying signs with sayings like "Sameness is trendy" and "Censorship." The demonstration was attended by over 10,000 people, according to Agence France-Presse.
One protestor, 30-year-old Tamas Olajos, told the outlet that "humor exposes the absurd," and that the rally was a "way to respond to a regime that takes itself too seriously." Another attendee, 53-year-old engineer Kata Bicskei, added: "Look at all these people here now, dressed in gray – a perfect display of what sameness looks like. That's the twist, of course. We don't want everyone to be the same."
Hungary's bill has been compared to Russia's 2013 law banning LGBTQ+ “propaganda,” which outlawed any positive mention of LGBTQ+ identities in venues accessible to minors. The nation extended the ban to apply to adults in 2022, and last year, the Russian Supreme Court granted the Ministry of Justice's request to label the “international LGBT social movement” as “extremist” and prohibit any related activities.
The United Nations and its Human Rights Chief Volker Türk have called on Hungary to "repeal this law and other legislation that discriminates against LGBTIQ+ individuals." The organization said in a statement shortly after the legislation passed that the nation must "combat the high levels of intolerance, discrimination, bullying and harassment related to sexual orientation and gender identity, faced by children in particular, in line with Hungary’s international human rights obligations."
"We are deeply concerned at legislation passed this week in Hungary that results in arbitrary and discriminatory restrictions on the rights of LGBTIQ+ individuals to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and privacy, including when advocating for their human rights in events such as Pride parades," it stated.
