Hungary’s parliament on Monday approved constitutional amendments that allow the government to ban public events organized by LGBTI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and other) communities.
Legal scholars and critics call this decision another step towards authoritarianism by Hungary’s populist government.
The amendment, which required a two-thirds majority, was approved by 140 votes in favor and 21 against. It was proposed by the ruling coalition led by populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Before the vote, opposition politicians and other protesters attempted to block the entrance to the parliament parking lot. Police physically removed the demonstrators, who had tied themselves together.
The amendment states that children’s rights to moral, physical and spiritual development take precedence over any other right except the right to life, including the right to peaceful assembly. The controversial “child protection” legislation prohibits the “description or promotion” of homosexuality to minors under the age of 18.
The amendment turns into the constitution a law passed through an accelerated procedure in March that bans public events held by LGBTI+ communities, including the event known as the Pride Parade, which gathers thousands of participants in Budapest every year.
The law also allows authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify people participating in prohibited events, such as the Pride Parade.
David Bedo, an MP from the opposition Momentum party who took part in the blockade attempt, said before the vote that Orban and Fidesz for the past 15 years “have been destroying democracy and the rule of law, and in the last two or three months, we are seeing that this process has accelerated.”
He said that, as the 2026 elections approach and Orban’s party is floundering in the polls against a new challenger popular with the opposition, “they will do everything they can to stay in power.”
Opposition MPs attempted to interrupt the vote, which resumed a few moments later.
The Hungarian government has campaigned against the LGBTI+ community in recent years and argues that its “child protection” policies, which prohibit minors from accessing any material that mentions homosexuality, are necessary to protect children from what it calls “gender madness.”
Critics say the measures do little to protect children and are being used to divert attention from the more serious problems facing the country and to mobilize Orban’s most extremist support base ahead of elections.
The new amendment also states that the constitution recognizes two genders, male and female, thus expanding a previous amendment that prohibited adoption by same-sex couples by declaring that a mother is a woman and a father is a man.
The declaration provides a constitutional basis for denying the gender identities of transgender people, as well as for ignoring the existence of intersex individuals who are born with sexual characteristics that do not conform to binary concepts of male and female.
In a statement on Monday, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs wrote that the change “is not an attack on individual expression, but a clarification that legal norms are based on biological reality.”
The amendment is the 15th to be made to Hungary’s constitution since 2011 when Orban’s party drafted and unilaterally approved it. (RFE)
