Hungary Plans Referendum on Anti-LGBTQ law
Last Updated on July 22, 2021 by Administrator
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a right-winger, has proposed a referendum on the country’s contentious anti-LGBTQ law. The move is a rejoinder to the European Union which condemned the law.
On Wednesday, the radical leader charted a five-question vote that will ask the public if they back the “promotion” of materials and programs related to sexual orientation to children. Orbán is appealing to the public to vote “no.”
The law, named the Children Protection Act, stated its aim as safeguarding children’s safety and combatting paedophilia. It bans all learning materials and curriculums for children that are considered to promote homosexuality and gender reassignment.
Orbán has claimed that the law – sanctioned in parliament last month — t about sustaining parents’ rights to decide how to educate their children.
It has been lambasted by many EU leaders as being homophobic and has provoked severe denigration from human rights groups and opposition parties. Members of the European Parliament and other European leaders have denunciated the law, with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte declaring that Hungary has “no place in the EU.”
Seventeen other member states openly signed a letter to the heads of the EU institutions echoing their espousal of human rights as charted in Article 2 of the treaties of the European Union. The EC last week declared infringement measures against Orban’s government concerning the law.
Hungary has taken several anti-LGBTQ measures during the reign of Prime Minister Orbán. The country does not recognise same-sex marriage and, banned adoption for same-sex couples last year. Hungarians are also not allowed to change their gender legally. Recently, Orban had also been criticised for the use of Israeli spyware to infiltrate the devices of a range of targets — including at least ten lawyers, one opposition politician and at least five journalists.
