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THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION is to launch legal action against EU member Hungary on Thursday in response to a law seen as discriminating against LGBTQ citizens.
A senior EU source has confirmed that Brussels would send Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government a warning letter on Wednesday and begin the “infraction procedure” on Thursday.
Last week, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen warned that the EU would use “all powers available” to force Hungary to repeal or modify the law.
The so-called “anti-paedophilia” law came into force on Thursday last week despite Brussels’ warning.
The legislation was billed as a way to protect children, but opponents argue that it conflates paedophilia with homosexuality and stigmatises the LGBTQ community.
The law bans the sharing of content that “promotes” being gay to children and teenagers, impacting education in schools.
The legal text of the law states that “in order to ensure… the protection of children’s rights, pornography and content that depicts sexuality for its own purposes or that promotes deviation from gender identity, gender reassignment and homosexuality shall not be made available to persons under the age of eighteen”.
Last week, the Hungarian government wrote to Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman after he joined other EU leaders in criticising the law. The Minister described it as “homophobia dressed up as a child protection measure”.
In the letter, the Hungarian government accused those critical of the law of “grave disrespect” towards the country, claiming that the new laws will ensure “more stringent action against paedophile offenders” and that the law was drafted to “protect children”.
Brussels’ letter is the first step in a procedure that could lead to a case before the European Court of Justice and from there to financial penalties on Hungary.
Separately, the commission has also yet to approve Hungary’s application for €7.2 billion in coronavirus recovery funding, even as other member states expect to receive their first payments.
Additional reporting by Jane Moore
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Snore zzzzzzzz
@Anna Carr: why? Because its not about women’s rights? . . . Again!
@Bala mc blaha: While lot of assuming there.
@Bala mc blaha: I have nothing to do with women’s rights actually. I am not a feminist, I am a traditionalist. I believe all people have a right to be happy in whatever way suits them. It’s just going on a bit….. Same as women in the workplace. Sure, go ahead and do whatever and be whatever you want but stop negating my values as a traditional woman.
@Anna Carr: Anna, a pawn of the patriarchy. Your values are terrible Anna.
@Anna Carr: traditional women lol. Hilarious.
@Anna Carr: you sound like great craic
@Brian Madden: I am actually lol. I’m not weighed down with issues so I’m always the life and soul of any party
Err… Yeah… Whatever. I don’t see a patriarchy.
@JustMeHere: why am I a clown? I’m not hurting or offending anybody. I just don’t want things rammed down my throat every 5 minutes. Like the blissy pillowcase lol
@Paul Whitehead: why is a traditional woman hilarious? I’m not following
@Anna Carr: Nothing is being rammed down your throat, clown. You jumped into the Journal app, scrolled through the headlines, seen and LGBT article, clicked in and went straight to the comments to write your sad little comment. You actively went out of your way to have this rammed down your throat. Sado.
@JustMeHere: OK. You’ve had your little rant and session of name calling. Get back in your pram and put your binky in.
@Anna Carr: Please continue sleeping for at least a month seeing you are not interested in human rights
@Anna Carr: what does it mean to be a traditional woman, in your opinion? home maker? submissive to your husband? genuine question.
@Anna Carr: it is out duty as human beings to protect each and everyone whatever our religion, sexual or other preferences as long as they don’t hurt orhers
@Anna Carr: you mean you’re not that concerned with issues that don’t affect you directly. Try being a member of the LGBTQ community in Hungary and see if you care
@William Blackall: thanks
@Accidental Gentleman: no I’m not submissive by any means. We are a team. I never pursued a career, I chose to be a mother and stay at home, working if it was financially necessary. But I do all the housework and cooking and my husband takes care of me financially though he doesn’t see it that way, probably a bad choice of words. But I’ve often been mocked, even called a w***e by other working women who saw me as less than. I hope that explains it. I’m not in any way downtrodden or chained to the sink lol. And thank you for asking
@William Blackall: that’s not fair. Of course I care about human rights. I voted for gay marriage here and I condemn anyone who wants to stop anyone else from being happy. It’s just in the news almost as much as corona. That’s all.
@: her values differ from yours, and hence she is terrible? Are you that sure of your moral superiority? I don’t think so.
@Anna Carr: It’s in the news as much as corona? Gtfo of here. You CHOSE to go into an article with LGBT+ in the title.. have you no self restraint? Absolutely no one is forcing you to read or watch the news when it involves the LGBT+ community. You control what news you consume. You can change the channel or scroll by the article. Please remember that. No one, absolutely no one, is ramming anything down your throat when it comes to LGBT+ news or any other news that you don’t want to consume.
@Dermot N Killian: thank you so much
@JustMeHere: shhh… Adults talking.
@Anna Carr: wow. You find the erosion of human rights in an EU member country boring? I wonder if being a “traditional woman” has made your world so small that you can’t imagine caring about human rights if they don’t directly impact you?
@Anna Carr: “I am not a feminist” = I don’t care about equal rights
@Elaine Phelan: not fair. Do you worry about fields of crops and farmers being paid a pittance by supermarkets? No because you’re not a farmer. That’s what you’re saying to me. Where were you all when Turkey backed out of the violence against women clause so they could continue beating their wives and daughters. I care. I care a lot about many things and just because it doesn’t revolve around lbgtqi etc, doesn’t make me uncaring. So stop presuming you know anything about me.
@Elaine Phelan: total rub bish. Feminism has done nothing for women. We still don’t have equal rights, we’ve put our husband’s kn@ckers in our handbags and everyone hates us. Nice one feminism.
@Anna Carr: lots of us were and are outraged by what Turkey did, but turkey is not a member of the EU, and that’s one of the reasons why they are not. It is only right that the EU stand up for common values when a member state erodes human rights
@Anna Carr: “feminism has done nothing for women?” “We’ve put our husbands kn@ckers in our handbags and luggage hates us?”
You clearly live in a very different world to me. I am eternally grateful to the feminists who came before me who fought so hard for our rights. Feminism = believing women have equal rights to men, so I am proud to call myself a feminist
@Anna Carr: “feminism has nothing nothing for women”… “We’ve put our husbands kn@ckers in our handbags and everyone hates us”
Wow. You clearly live in a different world from me. I am eternally grateful to the women who came before me, who fought so hard for equal rights.
I am grateful for the right to vote, the right to education, the right to continue working after getting married and the right to choose to be a stay at home mum like you, or pursue a career like me. Feminism = believing women are entitled to equal rights with men. I am proud to call myself a feminist
@Anna Carr: You’re not an adult. You’re a repressed housewife with a patriarchal complex that’s straight out of the 1950s.
@JustMeHere: OMG are you still talking.
@Elaine Phelan: I’m so glad for you. It went so far for the common good (feminism) and like most great ideas it went too far. I agree if a woman does the exact same job as a man, she should be paid the same. There, I presume we agree, but I don’t know how women can work full time and have children, doing both jobs equally well. My hat goes off to these Superwomen. I know I couldn’t do it. I wish you well though.
@Anna Carr: you don’t seem to be doing that much housework given the time you spend on here. Is endless click-baiting on LGBTQ’s+ articles part of the traditional woman’s role now?
@Anna Carr: define a traditional woman.
@Anna Carr: Justmehere’s second last comment to you was a good argument. You replied with “shh”. You need to cop yourself on a bit. And nothing is being rammed down your throat. If you really feel that way, you should have a long hard think about why that is.
@Paul Whitehead: everyone’s entitled to a break and this is where I read the news instead of watching it on TV. Is that OK with you?
@Anna Carr: Women’s rights is about the right to CHOOSE what fits you and your family. The amount of bullying here towards you orr doing just that is disheartening.
The EU should let Hungary decide what laws are appropriate for their country
@Tom Mullally: there’s common principles on human rights, they knew about the social charter when they joined the eu. Hungary amd Poland should be puniahex
@Tom Mullally: they are free to, from outside the trade umbrella and financial and economic benefits of the EU.
But it’s ok for our government to discriminate on health status?????
@Michael Byrne: Are blind people allowed drive?
@Michael Byrne: You CHOOSE whether or not to be an anti-vaxxer. You do not CHOOSE your sexuality as it is innate. Nice attempt at false equivalence though, maybe choose something relevant to the issues at hand next time.
@Michael Byrne: Government failures are not discrimination. They are failures in ability. [I'm finding this comment hard to word, because even mild or nuetral words are considered 'Toxic' in this context] Discrimination is intentionally disadvantaging people, or using those people for a political purpose (i.e. Hungary). No one in Ireland is supporting the results of the Government’s vaccination policies. Hungarian citizens are being manipulated, or do not need encouragement, to equate illegal/immoral acts with LGBTQ. That’s entirely deliberate by Orban.
@Diarmuid Hunt: No blind person is banned from entering anywhere… It would be against the law even if you ban them because you deem it’s dangerous for them.
Unvaccinated are being coerced into vaccination… Soon supermarkets will ban Unvaccinated inside… You will stand by medical apartheid because you’re hypocritical.
@Franky Jefferson: Are you anti-vax Diarmuid?
@Bill Spill: ….Frankly that was for Franky :)
@Franky Jefferson: “medical apartheid”??? Ah yes this is *exactly* the same as discriminating against people based on their innate characteristics then is it? By your logic, forcing people to wear seatbelts for the protection of themselves and others is also an unconscionable government interference into people’s constitutional freedoms.
@Diarmuid Hunt: no actually they are not, but it’s unlikely that they would pass a driving test
@Kevin Collins: ahh yes, the usual anti vaxx insult, unable or unwilling to see another view point , can you not come up with something more original, path etic
@Michael Byrne: You need to pass an eye test to get a provisional licence.
@Conor Egan: your not listening, your allowed to fail, your NOT allowed to exclude
@Bill Spill: How would you think that?
@Michael Byrne: I didn’t ask were they banned I asked were they allowed?
Back to driving, you have to take a test to prove you’re not a danger to others. Don’t want to take the test then don’t expect to drive.
Government intervening and legislating in matters of public health and safety… how authoritarian of them!
@Franky Jefferson: Nor are they allowed drive because not only would it be a danger for them but also a danger to others.
People aren’t being discriminated because they didn’t take a vaccine, it’s to do with your potential to harm others. You have a choice whether to be vaccinated or not but in the case of your sex, race, ability (including vison, hearing etc), gender and more you don’t.
@Michael Byrne: You are allowed to exclude under certain circumstances, also blind people are excluded from driving because of the aforementioned tests. Your mental gymnastics are of no use here they’re quite transparent.
@Kevin Collins: What is an anti-vaxxer? I see this term brandished about everywhere but never an explanation as to what it is. Thanks
@Verners Tess: It covers a broad spectrum from conspiracy theorists to Karens who reject vaccines and modern medical science. Hallmark phrases include “wake up sheeple”, “do your own research” and “PC woke libtard brigade”.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=anti-vaxxer
Take away their voting rights and take away their funding. Simple.
@Seán Ó Briain: And thus make the EU sovereign ruler over any country in the EU as no country canake there own laws.
@Roy Dowling: Hungary knew the EU wasn’t homophobic when they joined.
@Roy Dowling: EU has core principles for member states – If they don’t agree to the core principles, they can always leave.
@Rebecca BarrettNp: Hungary isn’t a homophobic country. It legalised homosexuality in the 60s long before Ireland did. It’s still legal today. This new law was passed by the Hungarian Pm using the special powers granted to him to make laws to combat covid. Those special powers have since been removed from him. And the majority of the Hungarian opposition parties have formed an alliance to try remove him from office
@Seán Ó Briain: funny up until 2015 Ireland didn’t provide equaiity to the LGBT+ community. Didn’t see the EU holding your funding and vote for going against the core principles of the EU.
@Roy Dowling: Ireland is progressing, Hungary is regressing. There’s the difference. It’s up to member states to evolve towards common principles of the EU rather than away from them.
So yes, Hungary should be held accountable and lose privileges until they decide to either align with the EU or leave. They can choose.
@Seán Ó Briain: So your happy to take away a countries sovereignty?. Also the Hungarian people didn’t chose there leader did, why should the majority suffer for his decision?.
@Seán Ó Briain: Also Sean keep an eye out for where the EU core principals really like. Ireland is about to find out if we don’t fall in line with the rest of Europe and raise our cooperation tax to 15%. I guarantee you Ireland will pay a bigger price than Hungary will.
@Roy Dowling: remember Ireland being taken to the EU courts to decriminalise homosexuality? It was only 28yrs ago. Europe forced Ireland to change. Hungary has joined the EU and by doing so ratified all the treaties and signed up to the EU convention on human rights. This law clearly violates that convention.
@Paul Clancy: The EU didn’t take Ireland to court. David Norris an Irish citizen took Ireland to the European court for decriminalisation of homosexuality. Court found in his favour. But the EU didn’t start the case and certainly didn’t try force us to change.
@Rebecca BarrettNp: pretty sure Ireland wasn’t a beacon of progress for years despite our membership since the seventies.
@Valthebear: Its about regression vs progression
@Roy Dowling: I never said the EU initiated the case. I said they had Ireland change it’s laws. It’s what each country agrees to when they join. No member on the EU has complete sovereignty. That is the conscious decision each country makes when they apply. The EU courts are also not a separate entity but a panel made of 17 judges from across the EU. It’s rules and regulations are decided by agreement of the countries nothing is imposed. The issue here is that Hungary have decided to ban information on homosexuality to under 18 yr olds but haven’t banned information on heterosexuality to that age group.
@Paul Clancy: The EU didn’t make Ireland change its laws. The case happened in 1988 and the EU court found in Norris favour. It took Ireland 5 years to change its laws in 1993. Ireland didnt have to pay any fines lose any funding or lose its vote in then EU if it didn’t change. It was simply told it violates human rights to homosexuals. Also it’s not the EU count saying this new law is wrong it’s the head of EU the several leaders of members states none of which were questioning Ireland views on homosexuality back in the 80′s.
I know what the new law is, I don’t agree with it. But it don’t agree with the EU telling a country that if you don’t change your law then you’ll be punished. That was never what the EU was meant to be.
@Roy Dowling: you need to drop this illogical argument about Ireland legalizing gay marriage as some sort of justification to not hold Hungary accountable.
The laws passed in Hungary are not about gay marriage, so your tired comparison of that with Ireland’s stance on gay marriage is irrelevant.
This latest law is about banning content and conversation about homosexuality in schools – and the Hungarian govt are doing so under the banner of child protection, which conflates homosexuality with paedophilia. It smears and demonizes the LGBT+ community and is part of a larger legal assault on LGBT+ rights. (Hungary also recently banned gay couples from adopting.)
Stop mentioning Ireland’s legalization of gay marriage in 2015 as if it’s any kind intelligent argument.
Bell end.
LONG LIVE HUNGARY THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND SALUTE YOU.
The EU and Hungary are growing further and further apart.
Wouldn’t be surprised at all if Hungary had a referendum to leave the EU.
Hungary is getting 7.2 Billion, how much have our bright sparks and sleepers managed to get for us poor Irish tax payers?????
@Jimmy Kiely: Maybe read it again. There not getting 7.2 billion. That’s how much there asking for but it’s not been approved
@Jimmy Kiely: google will tell you we’ve applied for an initial grant of €900 million.
@Roy Dowling: my Question was addressed to the writer of the article.
Bullying and virtue signalling by the EU. Nations evolve and change differently. This serves no purpose and will only cause resistance and resentment.
@Raymond Barry: It serves the purpose of reminding Hungary of their agreement and obligation to uphold human rights as EU members. It reminds them that they can’t get EU funding if they target marginalized groups. Anything else?
Cut their money off until they change or leave. Their choice.
@Edmund Murphy: Bully them essentially… Perfect… That definitely won’t accelerate countries leaving lol… Good riddance EU.
@Franky Jefferson: no, force them to comply to legal agreements.
Stop with the anti-EU propaganda, it’s very obvious Franky.
How’s brexit going by the way????
@Franky Jefferson: So let countries break EU law and discriminate against a large portion of the population for no reason?
No thanks. Not the EU that I support. I want the EU to take action in cases like these. I don’t want to be in an EU that allows that sort of pointless discrimination to occur.
@Liam MacSuibhne: “Force them to comply”…. lol, so you’re in favour of a Soviet system of compliance then, very nice. If that’s what the EU is about now then that is a shame.
I mean we are still gawking at Britain who’ve been indoor dining for a good while now… many Irish people going to Northern Ireland just to enjoy a bit of normality. And they were far ahead in the vaccine rollout which many of us here were quite jealous of… as we wait in line for the EU to give it to us… so I say it’s going quite well in many ways. As will it go well for Hungary, Italy and Denmark when they leave… wasn’t aware the EU was all about “forcing” when it first started but…. how things change. Inenvitably Russia and China will quite like the EU breaking up… they’re already influencing… the EU should be trying to keep countries together…. not push them out…. but that will be its downfall anyway, as more countries leave… the more benefit for us to leave as well.
@Tomo: Hungary legalised homosexuality DECADES before Ireland did, don’t stand too high on that pedistal of moral superiority. It should be Ireland that was kicked out for dragging it’s Catholic heels… but the EU never made any threats to us… or indeed will the EU “force” countries like Croatia, Czech Republic, Baltic Countries to implement Gay Marriage…. surely that’s discriminatory too right? Should the EU force Malta to legalise abortion? What else should the EU increasingly “step in” on? Should the EU step in on countries not fulfilling its promise on the Paris climate agreement? Should the EU or NATO send tanks to the Hungarian border to send a clear message that it will take whatever action necessary to prevent discrimination against any EU citizen? That surely would be more effective right?
@Franky Jefferson: Nothing you mentioned is equivalent to what Hungary is implementing. You either don’t know what the law is or are being disingenuous.
The amendment bans the ‘promotion of homosexuality’. This is a new law that will be implemented, not a legacy issue like abortion laws or gay marriage which were in place prior to entering the EU in many member states.
This means that homosexuality will not be acknowledged as a real thing in the education system. It will not be discussed, taught, and homosexual relationships will not exist, as far as they are concerned. How can you not see how wrong that is? A school is a place where ideas are to be discussed and debated without political interference.
So if Hungary decided women are not to be represented in schools, that’s okay?
@Tomo: What a country decides to put in their school curriculum is up to them…. there are MANY things included in this country that would not go down well socially in other countries.
Quite frankly as long as they are not discriminating against Gay people… saying gay students cannot attend, saying gay people must go through gay conversion therapy to get employment or something…. then it doesn’t really matter… most things children learn morally and culturally is OUTSIDE of school anyway, at home with parents, with their friends or through the internet or culture generally… young people know very well homosexuality exists, the government cannot hide that fact, they can’t control the internet which broadly has pro gay content. Children will learn about homosexuality anyway… and even if they don’t, they will find out when they become an adult just as a lot of people in this country had to do.
Honestly there are so many bigger issues in Europe that the EU should be focusing on… but I guess us western countries just…. cannot help but morally dictate to the rest of the world how they should govern their countries or teach their children… it’s…. a weird obsession. Let them be… their society once they get as wealthy and spoilt like us, they too will be pro-LGBT and worry about other countries policies and curriculum…. but until then they have an ageing population… which causes a lot of problems, they’re not as attractive for migrants nor do they really want them… so they need to encourage procreation if they want their economy to grow as well as keep many industries going… the last thing on their mind is teaching children about gay relationships… or hell… why stop there? Why not trans people? Why not crossdressers? Sure in this country we learn way more about homosexuality than we do about… the traveller culture even… again… moral highground
Will Hungary repeal this discriminatory legislation? That’s the 7.2 million euro question..
@David Van-Standen: *billion
@KSham: Yes , you are right 7.2 billion!
@David Van-Standen: They will leave the eu if eu is forcing them how to govern their country.
@Franky Jefferson: it’s not forcing them to do anything, Englishman. It’s forcing to live up to agreed principles of law and equality. They can choose to break that multi-lateral agreement if they wish, but just like Brexit, if you break agreements, obviously you lose your benefits as a consequence. This is perfectly legal, even in Hungarian law, as a vast majority of Hungarians voted to join the EU based on its principles of equality and social justice.
Take your British tabloid nonsense elsewhere
@Franky Jefferson: hopefully
@Liam MacSuibhne: nice bit of anti British bigotry there.
@Franky Jefferson: and good riddance to them if they do
Very authoritarian move by the EU.
You can propegate cleaner eating or fitness because your audience can choose their preferred lifestyle. Propagating homesexuality or heterosexuality is an oxymoron as its not a choice either way.
Interestingly, humans are the only mammals that seem to have an issue with homophobia. Common sense ain’t that common after all.
@Luke Windak: agreed. In the year 2021, in a developed country, surely homophobia could almost be classed as a mental illness. There is really something not right with someone who is bothered or angered by two consenting adults having relationships together.
Maybe some of the other EU countries might censure Ireland for our failure to provide sufficient housing….
Does Hungary possess scientific proof those of the LGBT± are more inclined to pedophilia than those who are not? Teaching and promotion are two separate things. Would like to hear from lawmakers their reasonings behind these two points.
It’s embarrassing that Irish government is allowed our country to be in the sentence as Hungary as regards one of two or 3 EU countries holding out on not taxing large mult nationals at minimum 15%.
Worth pointing out that Ireland was forced to decriminalize homosexuality in 1993 by the ECHR. 20 years later, attitudes had changed beyond recognition.
@Seán Kissane: Worth pointing out that’s not true. David Norris brought Ireland the the ECHR in 1988 , the court found his favour. It took Ireland a further 5 years change its laws to decriminalise homosexuality. In the 5 years Ireland didn’t suffer any fines, not threats to without finding, no threats of taking away our voting privilege in the EU. Previous to David Norris bringing Ireland to the ECHR the EU never once told Ireland its laws on homosexuality was wrong and should be changed. David Norris forced Ireland to change its laws as he never took no for an answer he took on the Irish state and the Catholic church he won.
Of course section 37 allows the Catholic Church to discriminatie against lgbt students in Irish schools. Where’s the difference?
Who else is having their polite, respectful responses to this story deleted?
This is the main thing the EU should be thinking about right now.
Ironic for a country named after a well endowed man.
They will certainly take harsh positions, such as not inviting him to lunch next time he’s is Brussels…
If only they took such stances when it comes to corporate tax, excise duty for vehicles, and so on…
2004 was too soon
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