Hungary – In June, the Hungarian parliament passed a much-publicised amendment to its child protection law. In addition to increased penalties for convicted paedophiles, the amended law introduced a ban on LGBT propaganda in schools. That was all it took for the opposition and the Western media to denounce an alleged new homophobic initiative by the Hungarian government.
Although the law was passed, the Hungarian government decided to respond to its critics by putting the newly-added rules to a referendum. It will be held in January, and its questions were made public on 30 November:
- In the context of public educational institutions, do you approve of the participation of minors, without parental consent, in activities involving the presentation of various sexual orientations?
- Do you approve of the popularisation of sex reassignment procedures for minors?
- Do you approve of unlimited access by minors to media content of a sexual nature, that is likely to influence their development?
- Do you approve of minors having access to media content presenting gender reassignment possibilities?
