A new anti-gay Hungarian law has fired up European Leaders

EU leaders have issued a sharp challenge to a new law that critics say targets the LGBTIQ+ community, threatening to sue Budapest over violations of fundamental human rights if it does not back down immediately.

Luxembourg’s gay Prime Minister Xavier Bettel has condemed his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban, stating that Budapest was discriminating against gay people.

PM Bettel says the new law promotes homophobia.

Despite criticism from rights groups and political opposition in Hungary, Orban ahead of talks with his EU peers in Brussels that the new bill, which bans the distribution in schools of material seen as promoting homosexuality or gender change, was already enacted.

Bettel, who is an advocate of gay rights and sometimes travels with his husband to official state visits, said he would challenge Orban over the contentious law during their meeting.

Relating homosexuality with paedophilia or pornography was wrong, as was stigmatizing people, he said, adding tongue-in-cheek that himself being gay did not pose any danger to anyone.

Hungary’s anti-gay law threatens programming of televised content

Hungarian broadcasters, advertisers, and school teachers are trying to understand how the law will work in practice.

In Hungary, the government-appointed Media Authority oversees programme content, labelling and broadcast times and has its own power to investigate or respond to complaints from the public.

Fourteen EU governments including France, Germany and Spain have condemned the new law as a “flagrant form of discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression”.