Hungary repeals anti-LGBTQ provisions of Orban-era law in first major reversal under Magyar
Hungary's parliament voted on October 13 to remove anti-LGBTQ provisions from a 2021 child protection law introduced under former Prime Minister Viktor Orban, marking the first major reversal of restrictions targeting LGBTQ people since Peter Magyar took office.
Lawmakers approved the amendments by 139 votes to 51, AFP reported.
The original law prohibited the portrayal or promotion of homosexuality and gender transition in content accessible to minors. The revised legislation instead seeks to protect children under 18 from material that could seriously harm their physical, intellectual, emotional or moral development, without specifically targeting sexual or gender diversity.
Magyar, whose Tisza party won a landslide victory in April and took power in May, said the changes would bring Hungarian law into line with European Union requirements.
In April, the European Court of Justice ruled that the 2021 legislation violated the EU's fundamental values.
Ahead of the vote, Magyar presented the amendments as a strengthening of child protection rules regardless of sexual orientation, rather than explicitly framing them as a restoration of LGBTQ rights.
Orban's Fidesz party opposed the changes, accusing the government of weakening the law under pressure from Brussels. Tisza's two-thirds parliamentary majority allowed the amendments to pass without opposition support.
LGBTQ rights advocates welcomed the move but warned that other discriminatory measures remain in place.
"The fact that restrictions on access to LGBTQ content are being removed is definitely an important and positive step forward," Tamas Dombos of the Hatter Society told AFP.
However, restrictions on legal gender recognition for transgender people and adoption by same-sex couples remain, as do legal provisions used to prohibit Pride marches.
Human Rights Watch also noted that the amendments leave discriminatory constitutional language and restrictions on freedom of assembly untouched.
Orban's government introduced a series of restrictions on LGBTQ rights beginning in 2020. The 2021 child protection law drew widespread criticism from European leaders and rights groups for conflating homosexuality with paedophilia.