As part of a continued crackdown by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s party on Hungary’s LBGTQ+ community, the country’s parliament on Tuesday passed a law banning Pride events and allowing authorities to use facial recognition software to identify attendees, foreign media reported.
According to the Associated Press, the law – supported by Orbán’s Fidesz party and their minority coalition partner the Christian Democrats—was pushed through parliament in an accelerated procedure, and was passed in a 136-27 vote.
The new legislation amends Hungary’s law on assembly to make it an offense to hold or attend events that violate the country’s contentious “child protection” legislation, which prohibits the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors under the age of 18.
Under the new legislation, individuals who attend prohibited events can face fines up to 200,000 Hungarian forints ($546), with the funds directed to “child protection” initiatives. Additionally, authorities are now permitted to use facial recognition software to identify and track individuals attending such events, a move that has raised concerns over privacy and civil liberties.
As the vote took place in Budapest, opposition lawmakers protested the bill’s passage by setting off smoke bombs in the chamber as a show of dissent against what they see as an attack on democratic freedoms and LGBTQ+ rights.
This law is the latest in a series of steps taken by Orbán’s government to curb LGBTQ+ rights. In 2021, Hungary passed the “child protection” law, which bans the portrayal of homosexuality in content accessible to minors, including television, films, advertisements, and literature. It also prohibits the mention of LGBTQ+ issues in school education programs and forbids the public depiction of “gender deviating from sex at birth.”
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