European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that the EU will seek to punish Hungary for it new bill outlawing pro-LGBT content targeted at minors.
“I have instructed my responsible commissioners to write to the Hungarian authorities expressing our legal concerns before the bill enters into force,” von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels, according to Reuters. “The Hungarian bill is a shame.”
Hungary’s nationalist Fidesz party passed the bill June 15, banning the depiction of homosexuality or promotion of transgenderism in content available to children. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban balked at von der Leyen’s remarks, calling them “shameful,” according to US News.
Hungarian lawmakers who pushed the bill have defended it as a means of protecting children from predators. “Pedophiles won’t be able to hide anymore,” said Fidesz state secretary Csaba Domotor. (RELATED: German Plans For Rainbow Stadium To Protest ‘Homophobic And Transphobic’ Hungary Shot Down)
U.S. Embassy Budapest is deeply concerned by anti-LGBTQI+ aspects of a bill passed today by the Hungarian Parliament. Read the statement here: https://t.co/wco5GyIb3T pic.twitter.com/dDqzGPzef0
— US Embassy Budapest (@usembbudapest) June 15, 2021
The bill has been widely condemned by leaders across the West. In addition to von der Leyen’s statement, the U.S. Embassy in Budapest said it was “deeply concerned” by the provisions passed, and numerous European leaders have spoken out against it.
A Swedish minister described the bill as “grotesque,” while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the bill is not compatible with her ideas, according to Reuters.
Orban, who will face a re-election bid next year, has repeatedly clashed with European leaders in recent years over increasingly socially-conservative policies passed by his government, such as prohibiting citizens from changing their birth gender on government IDs and offering tax breaks to women who have at least four children.