BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian lawmakers are preparing to vote on a constitutional amendment viewed by many critics as both a crackdown on the freedoms of assembly and expression and the most recent move by the populist government to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ communities.
The amendment, which will almost certainly be passed on Monday by the two-thirds majority of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s nationalist Fidesz party, would permanently codify a ban on public events held by LGBTQ+ communities — including the popular Pride event that draws thousands annually in the capital, Budapest.
It will also provide a constitutional basis for denying the gender identities or sexual characteristics of minority groups, and allow for some Hungarians to have their citizenship suspended if they are deemed to pose a threat to Hungary’s security or sovereignty.
Here’s what the amendment will do, what it entails for LGBTQ+ Hungarians, and for some of the basic rights of all citizens in the Central European nation.
A ban on LGBTQ+ events?
The amendment, the 15th to Hungary’s constitution since it was unilaterally authored and approved by the ruling Fidesz-KDNP coalition in 2011, gives legal support to a law fast-tracked in March that made it an offense to hold or attend events that violate the country’s contentious “child protection” legislation, which prohibits the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors aged under 18.
That law also allows authorities to use facial recognition tools to identify individuals that attend prohibited events — such as Budapest Pride — and can come with fines for violators of up to 200,000 Hungarian forints ($546).
Some legal experts have argued that such a restriction on assembly rights violates Hungary’s constitution. In order to bring the Pride ban in line with constitutional protections, the amendment declares that children’s rights to moral, physical and spiritual development supersede any other fundamental right other than the right to life — including that to peacefully assemble.
The amendment also declares that “a person’s sex at birth is a biological characteristic and can be either male or female” — an expansion of an earlier amendment that prohibits same-sex adoption by stating that a mother is a woman and a father is a man.
This declaration will provide a constitutional basis for denying the gender identities of transgender people, as well as ignoring the existence of intersex individuals, who are born with atypical sexual characteristics that do not align with binary conceptions of male and female.
The human rights agency of the United Nations has written that up to 1.7% of the global population is born with intersex traits.
The amendment, as well as previous legislation targeting LGBTQ+ communities, is reminiscent of similar restrictions against sexual minorities in Russia. Orbán, seen as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the European Union, has in recent years prohibited same-sex adoption and banned any LGBTQ+ content including in television, films, advertisements and literature that is available to minors.
His government argues that its policies are designed to protect children from “sexual propaganda,” but critics view them as part of a broader effort to scapegoat sexual minorities and mobilize his conservative base.
Citizenship could be suspended
Hungary has taken vigorous steps in recent months to protect its national sovereignty from what it claims are foreign efforts to influence its politics or even topple Orbán’s government.
The self-described “illiberal” leader has accelerated his longstanding efforts to crack down on critics such as media outlets and groups devoted to civil rights and anti-corruption, which he says have undermined Hungary’s sovereignty by receiving financial assistance from international donors.
In a speech laden with conspiracy theories in March, Orbán compared people who work for such groups to insects, and pledged to “eliminate the entire shadow army” of foreign-funded “politicians, judges, journalists, pseudo-NGOs and political activists.”
As part of the government’s sovereignty protection efforts, the newest constitutional amendment will make it possible to suspend the Hungarians’ citizenship if they are deemed to pose a threat to public order, public security or national security.
Such suspensions would apply to Hungarian citizens who also hold citizenship of another country that is not a member of the EU or European Economic Area. Such suspensions may last for a maximum of 10 years.
‘This is fascism’
The passage of the law banning Pride set off a wave of protests in Hungary with thousands taking to the streets to demand the restoration of assembly rights. Demonstrators employed the tactic of blocking bridges and major thoroughfares in Budapest, something Orbán later said would be prohibited by new legislation.
Reacting to the ban on Pride, local organizers wrote: “This is not child protection, this is fascism.”
On Monday, when lawmakers vote to approve the constitutional amendment, the opposition Momentum party will attempt to blockade the parliament and prevent the vote from taking place. The party accused Orbán’s government of being an “intimidating and cowardly power,” writing on social media: “Let’s collectively prevent them from leading us down the Putin road and depriving us of our freedom.”
Another protest is expected after the passage of the amendment.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights group, has said the planned amendment “is a significant escalation in the Government’s efforts to suppress dissent and weaken human rights protection.”
The group, along with rights groups the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and Háttér Society, have urged the European Commission to launch a procedure against Hungary’s government, arguing the amendment and other recent legislation breaches EU law.
