Freedom of expression in Hungary

[Dante]

Hungary’s government ordered a publisher to print disclaimers identifying books containing “behaviour inconsistent with traditional gender roles”.
The government said: «the action was needed to protect consumers from being misled». Apparently the order is not universally mandated, but it should be pointed out that Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has adopted increasingly hostile rhetoric and policies towards LGBTQ+ groups in the past year.

Ironically, Orban’s homophobic politics suffered a setback last December when a senior European Parliament lawmaker from his party was caught fleeing a gay orgy in Brussels, in violation of pandemic restrictions and in possession of drugs.

 

[nagisa]

Hungary’s government ordered a publisher to print disclaimers identifying books containing “behaviour inconsistent with traditional gender roles”.
The government said: «the action was needed to protect consumers from being misled». Apparently the order is not universally mandated, but it should be pointed out that Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has adopted increasingly hostile rhetoric and policies towards LGBTQ+ groups in the past year.

Ironically, Orban’s homophobic politics suffered a setback last December when a senior European Parliament lawmaker from his party was caught fleeing a gay orgy in Brussels, in violation of pandemic restrictions and in possession of drugs.

And what's more, said gay-orgy-attending-MEP bragged that he was the one to have drafted the article in the Hungarian Constitution forbidding gay marriage. Internalised homophobia truly knows no bounds.

This flagging of "non gender-conform" content is absolutely chilling, but sadly expected given Hungary's track record. One can only hope that the European Commission will finally be able to proceed with some kind of sanctions, but since Orban's party *still* (!) has not been expelled from the EPP, the dominant European right-wing party, there does not seem to be light on the horizon...