Activists in Hungary have displayed a 30-foot-high rainbow heart outside of parliament in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community.
According to a report from The Associated Press, the group vowed to start a civil disobedience campaign in retaliation to the country’s new anti-LGBTQ+ law.
The legislation, which was passed by 157 votes to just one in the National Assembly, bans “content promoting gender change or homosexuality” within the school curriculum.
The bill has widely been compared to Russia’s “gay propaganda” law, which was passed in 2013, that bans disseminating “propaganda on nontraditional sexual relations” among Russians.
Lucas Dudtis from The Hatter Society, Hungary’s biggest LGBTQ+ advocacy group, opened up about the demonstration in a statement.
“We think that the only path we can pursue is civil disobedience, and we will not change anything about our activities,” he exclaimed.
Dudits also went on to say that the law “stigmatizes LGBTQ+ people” while putting queer youth at risk of harassment and bullying.
The numerous advocacy groups in Hungary aren’t the only ones that oppose the homophobic legislation.
On Thursday (8 July), the European Union passed a parliamentary resolution and rejected Hungary’s new discriminatory law.
459 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted in favour of the resolution, with 147 against and 58 abstaining in Strasbourg.
MEP’s referred to the law as “a clear breach of the EU’s values, principles and law.”
Today Hungary’s new anti-LGBT law will come into effect.
Orban is defiant but so too are LGBT Hungarians and allies.
Bravo @hattertarsasag & @AmnestyHungary who have this amazing rainbow heart outside the Parliament in protest.#Section28 was our shame, we stand with you. pic.twitter.com/XkY92GS6kA
— Scott Cuthbertson (@ScotCuthbertson) July 8, 2021
Ursula Von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, also released a statement condemning the harmful legislation.
“This law uses the protection of children, to which we are all committed, as an excuse to severely discriminate against people because of their sexual orientation. This law is disgraceful,” she said.
The ruling was passed by 157 votes to just one in the National Assembly, despite leading human rights officials and activists in Europe criticising the bill as “an affront against the rights and identities of LGBTI persons.”
Viktor Orban, the president of Hungary, has defended his controversial legislations and viewpoints since introducing the anti-LGBTQ+ law.
While speaking at a gathering in Belgrade, Orban stated: “Brussels bureaucrats have no place here.”
He also described the controversial situation as a “debate about who decides how we will raise our children.”
The director of Amnesty International Hungary, David Vg, echoed the same sentiments as the EU and called for action against the government’s LGBTQ+ discrimination.
“We expect EU institutions to act firmly and the European Commission to start an infringement procedure,” he said.
“This is a clear contradiction not just with EU values, but also with binding EU law and the commissions LGBTQ+ strategy.”
Related: EU parliament condemns Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ+ law as “breach” of equality
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