Budapest – Hungarian legislators are preparing to vote on a constitutional amendment seen by many critics as an offensive both against the freedoms of the Assembly and the expression and the most recent movement of the populist government to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+communities.
The amendment, which will surely be approved on Monday by the majority of two thirds of the Fidesz Nationalist Party of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, would permanently encode a prohibition of public events held by the LGBTQ+communities, including the popular pride event that attracts thousands annually in the capital, Budapest.
It will also provide a constitutional basis to deny gender identities or sexual characteristics of minority groups, and will allow some Hungarians to suspend their citizenship if they consider that they represent a threat to the safety or sovereignty of Hungary.
This is what the amendment will do, which implies for the Hungarian LGBTQ+, and for some of the basic rights of all citizens in the nation of Central Europe.
Prohibit LGBTQ+events?
The amendment, the 15 of the Constitution of Hungary, since it was written unilaterally written and approved by the FIDEDS FIDESZ-KDNP coalition in 2011, provides legal support to an accelerated law in March that made it a crime to celebrate or attend events that violate the legislation of “child protection” of the country, which prohibits the “sport or promotion of homosexuality under the command of the command.”
This law also allows authorities to use facial recognition tools to identify people who attend prohibited events, such as Budapest’s pride, and may come with fines for offenders up to 200,000 Hungarian Forints ($ 546).
Some legal experts have argued that such restriction on the rights of the Assembly violates the constitution of Hungary. In order for the prohibition of pride to be in line with constitutional protections, the amendment declares that the rights of children to moral, physical and spiritual development replace any other fundamental right other than the right to life, including that to meet peacefully.
The amendment also declares that “the sex of a person at birth is a biological characteristic and can be a man or woman”, an expansion of an anterior amendment that prohibits the adoption of the same sex by affirming that a mother is a woman and a father is a man.
This statement will provide a constitutional basis to deny the gender identities of transgender people, as well as ignore the existence of intersex individuals, born with atypical sexual characteristics that are not aligned with the binary conceptions of men and women.
The United Nations Human Rights Agency has written that up to 1.7% of the world’s population is born with intersex features.
The amendment, as well as prior legislation aimed at LGBTQ+communities, remembers similar restrictions against sexual minorities in Russia. Orbán, seen as the closest ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the European Union, has prohibited same -sex adoption in recent years and has banned any LGBTQ+content, including television, movies, ads and literature that is available for minors.
His government argues that their policies are designed to protect children from “sexual propaganda”, but critics see them as part of a broader effort to make a scapegoat to sexual minorities and mobilize their conservative base.
Citizenship could be suspended
Hungary has taken vigorous measures in recent months to protect his national sovereignty of what states that they are foreign efforts to influence his policy or even overthrow the Orbán government.
The self -denominated “iliberal” leader has accelerated his long -standing efforts to take energetic measures against critics such as the media and groups dedicated to civil rights and anti -corruption, which he has undermined Hungary’s sovereignty by receiving financial assistance from international donors.
In a speech full of conspiracy theories in March, Orbán compared the people who work for such groups with insects, and committed to “eliminate the entire Army of the Shadow” of “politicians, judges, journalists, Pseudo-Ngo and political activists financed on the foreigner.
As part of the government’s sovereignty protection efforts, the new constitutional amendment will allow to suspend the citizenship of the Hungarians if they consider that they represent a threat to public order, public security or national security.
These suspensions would apply to the Hungarian citizens who also have the citizenship of another country that is not a member of the EU or the European economic zone. Such suspensions can last a maximum of 10 years.
‘This is fascism’
The approval of the law that prohibits pride triggered a wave of protests in Hungary with thousands of the street to demand the restoration of the rights of the Assembly. The protesters used the tactics of blocking bridges and main roads in Budapest, something orbán later said it would be prohibited by a new legislation.
In reaction to the prohibition of pride, local organizers wrote: “This is not child protection, this is fascism.”
On Monday, when legislators vote to approve the constitutional amendment, the opposition impulse party will try to block the Parliament and prevent the vote from being carried out. The party accused Orbán’s government of being an “intimidating and cowardly power,” writing on social networks: “Cectively, let’s prevent us from being brought to the Putin path and deprive ourselves of our freedom.”
Another protest is expected after the approval of the amendment.
