(Budapest) On Thursday, in front of the Hungarian Parliament, activists inflated a huge, 10-meter-high, LGBT rainbow-colored balloon. They have promised to lead a civil disobedience campaign against a new law they see as discriminatory and which they say raises questions about the values the European Union stands for, of which Hungary is a part.
A Hungarian law, which went into effect on Thursday, forbids the provision of any content to minors that represents homosexuality or transgenderism.
Critics say the law is intended to marginalize and stigmatize the LGBT community, while Hungary, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, regularly points to the right.
The law faced stiff opposition in Hungary and in the European Union; It has become an important battleground in the struggle for what Europe stands for.
Prime Minister Orban and some other right-wing leaders in EU member states have been at the forefront of this battle that has challenged the traditional European “liberal consensus”, for example by refusing to accept immigrants, by suppressing media pluralism and limiting the independence of the judiciary.
During Thursday’s protest, rights groups said Hungarian law deprives thousands of LGBT youth of basic information and support, and violates national and international human rights standards.
“We believe the only way forward is civil disobedience, and we’re not going to change anything in our activities,” Luca Duditz, a spokesman for the Hatter Society, the largest advocacy group, told The Associated Press.
Convicted in Parliament
Several European leaders have called for this law to be repealed, claiming that it violates the values of the Union. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday that the law was a “disgrace”.
In a resolution adopted on Thursday, MEPs condemned the new law, which they said was a flagrant violation of fundamental rights. They believe that this is not an isolated incident, but rather “forms another deliberate and deliberate model for the gradual dismantling of fundamental rights in Hungary”.
MEPs urged the European Commission in Brussels to launch swift infringement proceedings against the Hungarian member.
Earlier Thursday in Belgrade, Orban dismissed criticism from the European Union, describing the debate as “a debate about who decides how we raise our children”. “Brussels bureaucrats have no place here,” he added.
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