Hungary’s prime minister accuses EU of “LGBTQ offensive”

EU is rejecting Christian heritage, conducting population exchanges, and waging an LGBTQ campaign against family-friendly nations

By BRODY LEVESQUE

BAILE TUSNAD, Transylvania, Romania - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Mihály Orbán in his speech at the 32nd Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp on Saturday castigated the European Union for what Orbán defined as rejecting ‘Christian heritage.’

The government of the conservative ruling party of the prime minister has been feuding with the EU since passage of Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ education law in June of 2021. Orbán, who has publicly proclaimed that he is a “defender of traditional family Catholic values,” has been criticised by international human rights groups as discriminating against LGBTQ+ people with this law which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called a “disgrace.”

“This bill clearly discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and it goes against all the values, the fundamental values of the European Union and this is human dignity, it is equality and is human fundamental rights, so we will not compromise on these principles,” said von der Leyen.

The European Commission, the ruling body of the EU, referred Hungary to the Court of Justice of the EU over the anti-LGBT law in mid-2022. The commission has said it considers that the law violates the EU’s internal market rules, the fundamental rights of individuals and EU values.

Addressing the audience at the gathering outside of Băile Tușnad, Orbán said [that] “at the heart of the conflicts between the EU and our country lies our fundamental law. The EU is rejecting Christian heritage, it is conducting population exchanges, and it is waging an LGBTQ campaign against family-friendly nations.”

The Prime Minister said that Europe has created its own political class, which is no longer accountable, no longer Christian or democratic in its beliefs.

“We do not want everyone to have the same faith, or to live the same family life or to share the same holidays. We insist, however, that we have a common home, a common language, a common culture and a common public sphere, which must be protected at all costs,” he said adding: “We will not compromise and we will not back down, we will insist on our rights. We will not give in to political or economic blackmail.”

Orbán then pivoted warning: “Asia and China stand before us in full superpower garb, with self-respect and a vision. They want to end a century of humiliation. They want to regain dominance over Asia. And the universal values of the US are laughed at by the Chinese.”

“Every day we are moving towards a confrontation- we are in a dangerous situation in world politics because the number one power sees itself sinking to second place.”

Rebuking the EU the prime minister said the EU is plagued by anxiety. “It is a rich and weak Union, which sees around it a world in revolt, millions of people heading for Europe,” he noted referring the migrant crisis brought on by the war in Ukraine and other factors.

“If we look at the International Monetary Fund’s list of countries by GDP, we see that by 2030 Britain, Italy and France will slip out of the top 10, and Germany, now in fourth place, is slipping back to tenth,” he said adding; “The EU is like an aging boxing champion, showing off his medals but no longer willing to go back into the ring.”

Pressman said one of “its most haunting elements is the depiction of government efforts to turn Hungarians into informants against other Hungarians, neighbors against neighbors, brothers against brothers and parents against their own children — families against themselves — and all in service of oppression … and of empowering the few at the expense of the many.”

“It is impossible not to see echoes of this in your Parliament’s vote earlier this year to encourage neighbors to report to the authorities their gay neighbors raising children,” he added. “Turning neighbor on neighbor conjures a dark past of covert agents and informants, of fear and betrayal, in this country and this region that I do not need to recount. You have a museum for that. While this legislation did not become law, the fact it was ever considered, let alone supported by this government and passed by the legislature is chilling.”

Pressman noted “this proposal is not unique; others became and remain law.”

“Laws prohibiting ‘propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships’ were adopted by Russia in 2013,” he said. “These Russian laws found a new home here in Hungary eight years later — like a virus spreading — when the government adopted laws to forbid ‘educational programs aimed at the promotion of … homosexuality.’ And this law remains in force today. And — in both Russia and in Hungary — the crackdowns on discourse related to gayness were preceded and accompanied by a closing of space for independent institutions and civil society.”

Referring to the greater EU Orbán noted: “If you read the constitutions of European countries, you will see that the “I” is at the center of their constitutions, while the “we” is at the center of the Hungarian constitution.”

Circling back to his theme stressing that “peace, family, law and freedom cannot be achieved alone,” he noted that common things in the life of the individual are expressed as relationships, while “liberal constitutions were not written on the basis of relationships, but on the basis of detachment.” Then without direct reference of autocratic governance and in critique of the EU, Orbán restated his belief the migration crisis and the “LGBTQ campaign” “cannot be fought on liberal foundations.”

U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman on June 16 criticized the crackdown on LGBTQ+ and intersex rights in the European country.

Pressman, who is openly gay, in a speech he gave at a Budapest Pride reception noted he recently visited the Hungarian capital’s House of Terror Museum, which honors those persecuted during Nazi Germany’s occupation of Hungary and the post-World War II Communist governments that ruled the country until 1989.

“History teaches us that when governments start discriminating against one group — whether for who they love or what they believe, their politics or their race, or the color of their skin — others are usually not far behind,” added Pressman. “It teaches us clearly what can happen when we fail to speak out and stand up to these laws and policies as soon as they infect our democracies.”

Budapest Pride President Viktoria Radvanyi told the Washington Blade in February after U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power met with her and other activists in the Hungarian capital that it is “impossible to change your gender legally in Hungary” because of a 2020 law that “banned legal gender recognition of transgender and intersex people.”

Hungarian MPs in 2020effectively banned same-sex couples from adopting children and defined marriage in the country’s constitution as between a man and a woman. Pressman and his partner of 22 years, who was in the room when he gave his speech, have twin sons.

The European Commission last July sued Hungary, which is a member of the European Union, over the country s propaganda law.

Additional reporting by Blade International Editor Michael K. Lavers