The Act LXXIX of 2021 on taking more severe action against paedophile offenders and amending certain Acts for the protection of children, often mentioned in English-language media as Hungary's anti-LGBT law, are legislative amendments that were approved by the Hungarian Parliament on 15 June 2021, on a 157–1 vote with most opposition parties at the time boycotting the vote. It was condemned by human rights groups and left-wing Hungarian opposition parties as discriminatory against the LGBT community. The EU and the United States consider the amendments to be discriminatory anti-LGBT restrictions. By contrast, most Eastern European EU countries did not take a public stance, apart from Poland, which supported the Hungarian position.
After the law was passed, the European Commission started infringement proceedings against Hungary for breaching guarantees of freedom of expression and non-discrimination in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
History
In April 2012, Jobbik, then a far-right nationalist party, tried to introduce a bill into the Hungarian parliament that would change the national constitution to allegedly "protect public morals and the mental health of the young generations" by banning the popularization of "sexual deviancy". The legislation was drafted by party spokesman Ádám Mirkóczki. This was to target "homosexuality, sex changes, transvestitism, bisexuality and paedophile behaviour". The proposed amendments would criminalise anyone who "popularizes their sexual relations—deviancy—with another person of the same sex, or other disturbances of sexual behaviour, before the wider public". The penalty would be three years in prison, or five years if 'popularizing' is done in front of minors. The draft legislation ultimately failed to pass.
The amendments
In May and June 2021, the National Assembly of Hungary was debating a new law supposed to better protect children from paedophiles by taking stricter action against paedophile criminals. In the parliamentary session of 15 June 2021, Fidesz MP Csaba Hende, Chairman of the Legislative Committee in the Hungarian Parliament and Deputy Speaker for Legislation, submitted legislative amendments to the law that banned sharing information with minors that are considered to be promoting homosexuality or gender reassignment and to restrict LGBT representation in the media by banning content depicting LGBT topics from daytime television and prohibiting companies from running campaigns in solidarity with the LGBT community. Violations of the law can be punished with fines or a prison sentence. The vague language used in the law raised fears among same sex couples that simple acts like holding hands on the street would end up labeled as "promotion of homosexuality" and lead to arrests. In addition, it declared that only individuals and organisations listed in an official register can provide sexual education in schools. According to a government spokesperson who made a statement after the legislation had been approved, the latter measures were to target "organisations with dubious professional background … often established for the representation of specific sexual orientations".
Members of the left-wing opposition parties (Hungarian Socialist Party, Democratic Coalition, LMP - Hungary's Green Party and Dialogue for Hungary), as well as some independent MPs such as Bernadett Szél, Ákos Hadházy and Szabolcs Szabó boycotted the session and didn't participate in the vote. The MPs who were present almost unanimously approved the legislation on a 157–1 vote. All present members of the ruling Fidesz party and of the right-wing opposition parties Jobbik and Mi Hazánk, as well as some independent MPs such as Imre Ritter voted in favour. Independent MP Sándor Székely voted against. The law went into effect on 7 July 2021.
On 6 August 2021, an implementing regulation was issued and published in the official journal of Hungary (Magyar Közlöny) that declared that products intended for children that display or promote deviation from one's birth gender identity, gender reassignment or homosexuality and products portraying sexuality in a self-serving way must be sold separately from other products and in closed packaging and must not be placed in a store's window. Such products also must not be sold within two hundred metres (approximately 656 feet) of any entrances of educational institutions, premises of child and youth protection services, churches and other places dedicated to the practice of religion. The new legislation will enter into force thirty days from its issuing, and compliance will be monitored by the consumer protection authorities.