Hungary adopts child sex abuse law that also targets LGBT community

BUDAPEST — Hungary’s parliament voted Tuesday to adopt legislation that would increase sentences for sex crimes against children, but critics say the law is being used to target the LGBT community before crunch elections for Prime Minister Viktor Orban next year.

Last-minute changes to the bill, which was prompted by public outrage after a series of sex scandals involving governing party and government officials, included restrictions against showing or “popularizing” homosexuality and content that promotes a gender that diverges from the one assigned at birth.

Mr. Orban’s critics say the changes were made to target the LGBT community in an effort to rally support from his conservative base and shift the focus away from the failures of his administration before elections in 2022.

The new rules, unexpectedly added to the bill by government-aligned lawmakers last week, require the labeling of all content that might fall into that category of “not recommended for those under 18 years of age.” Such content would be restricted for media like television to the hours between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The restrictions extend to advertisements and even sexual education, which the law would restrict to teachers and organizations approved by the government. The bill would also create a public database of sex offenders.

Mr. Orban has presented himself as a protector of traditional Christian values, although that image has been undermined somewhat by the sex scandals involving officials and allies of his Fidesz party over the past few years.

Last year, a Hungarian diplomat in Peru was convicted of possession of child pornography and handed a $1,800 fine and a suspended prison sentence after being brought home and charged in Hungary. That case, which sparked the public pressure on the Legislature to enact stricter sentencing for pedophilia crimes, was just one in a series of scandals that has undermined public faith in Mr. Orban’s government.

Before Hungary’s 2019 municipal elections, video clips released online by an anonymous source showed a prominent Fidesz mayor participating in an orgy on a yacht.

The next year a Fidesz lawmaker in Brussels was detained after trying to escape out of a window and down a drainpipe when police raided a party being held in violation of COVID-19 restrictions that Belgian news media described as an all-male orgy.

The last-minute additions to the legislation were criticized by human rights groups, including Foundation for Rainbow Families, which promotes equality for all Hungarian families with children.

“Fidesz does this to take the public conversation away from major happenings in the country,” said Krisztian Rozsa, a psychologist and board member with the foundation, citing corruption.