Hungary passes legislation targeting LGBTQ+ community as campaign heats up

The constitutional amendments are part of Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban's political campaign to boost his core voter base and also lure votes from the far-right, some analysts said.

Budapest: Hungary's parliament approved constitutional changes on Monday targeting LGBTQ+ people and what the government calls "foreign-funded political pressure networks" that undermine the country's sovereignty.

Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in power since 2010, faces elections in 2026 with the economy struggling and a new opposition party posing the strongest challenge yet to his rule. The constitutional amendments are part of Orban's political campaign to boost his core voter base and also lure votes from the far-right, some analysts said.

Orban has pledged to crack down on foreign funding of independent media and non-governmental organisations in Hungary, while scaling up his political campaign against the LGBTQ+ communities.

The constitutional amendments, which easily passed on Monday due to Fidesz' two-thirds majority and with the support of far-right lawmakers, emphasise the protection of children's physical and moral development over all other rights.

The amendment passed with 140 members voting for and 21 against it.

"Government lawmakers view this change as a constitutional safeguard against ideological influences that they argue threaten the well-being of children, particularly in the context of events like Pride parades," government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs said on X before the vote.

The changes also enshrine in the constitution that Hungary recognises only two sexes, male and female, in line with Orban's Christian-Conservative agenda.

Monday's amendment underpins legislation passed on March 18 that bans the annual Pride march, effectively restricting freedom of assembly and triggering protests against the changes fast-tracked by Orban's Fidesz party. Fidesz said the event could be considered as harmful to children and protecting them would supersede the right to assemble.

The LGBTQ community has been a target of the ruling party for years, the organisers of Pride said on their website. They said if the government party tries to ban a rally for the rights of the LGBTQ people there is no guarantee that they would not ban peaceful protests by other groups. Another of the amendments on Monday says that citizenship of Hungarian nationals, who are also citizens of another country outside the EU, "may be suspended for a fixed term".

"This change is part of a broader effort to counter what officials describe as foreign-funded political pressure networks that undermine Hungarian democracy and sovereignty," the government spokesman said in a tweet.