Hungary cuts anti-LGBTQ rules from child protection law

Hungary's parliament voted on Tuesday to remove anti-LGBTQ provisions from a 2021 child protection law adopted under former nationalist leader Viktor Orban.

Lawmakers passed the amendment by 139 votes to 51. The change removes language banning the “portrayal” or “promotion” of sexual and gender diversity in content accessible to children. The law will instead seek to protect under-18s from material that can “seriously impair” a child's development.

The vote marks a significant reversal of Orban-era measures targeting LGBTQ people since pro-EU Prime Minister Peter Magyar took power in May. Magyar's Tisza party has a two-thirds majority and passed the bill without opposition support.

The European Union welcomed the vote as an “important signal of commitment for our common values” after Orban's restrictions were found to breach EU rules. In April, the European Court of Justice found that the 2021 law violated “the very identity” of the bloc.

Orban's Fidesz party voted against the amendment and accused the government of weakening the original law because of EU pressure. Ahead of the vote, Magyar described the changes as a strengthening of child-protection rules “regardless of sexual orientation.”

Tamas Dombos of the Hatter Society rights group called the change “definitely an important and positive step forward,” saying it removed “homophobic and transphobic provisions” from the law. He said other laws affecting transgender recognition and adoption by same-sex couples would still need to be changed. Human Rights Watch has also said other discriminatory provisions in Hungarian law remain in place.