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Hungarian lawmakers were scheduled to vote Tuesday on legislation stripping anti-LGBTQ provisions from a 2021 child protection statute enacted under former prime minister Viktor Orban, according to a Kuwait Times article. The amendments would remove bans on the portrayal or promotion of sexual and gender diversity in materials accessible to minors, replacing them with a general prohibition on content that could seriously impair a child’s physical, intellectual, emotional or moral development. Prime Minister Peter Magyar has indicated the revisions would harmonize Hungary’s regulations with European Union requirements after the bloc’s top court determined the original rules contravened its core values.
The parliamentary action constitutes the initial substantial reversal of Orban’s stringent LGBTQ policies since Magyar’s pro-EU government assumed control following decisive April elections that ended the nationalist leader’s 16-year tenure. Orban’s administration had implemented some of Europe’s toughest measures against the community, including the law that critics said wrongly equated homosexuality with pedophilia, a Reuters report from mid-September recalled. The statute had additionally served as grounds for outlawing Pride marches until this year’s events proceeded after judicial intervention.
In April the European Court of Justice ruled that the 2021 legislation violated the European Union’s very identity, a decision that prompted the new administration to act. Justice Minister Marta Gorog had signaled as early as May that adjustments would be required to address the court’s concerns over stigmatization of LGBTQ individuals, according to the Reuters account. With Tisza holding a two-thirds majority in parliament, passage of the bill submitted in September appears assured.
LGBTQ rights activist Tamas Dombos said the changes would remove homophobic and transphobic provisions from the law in line with the court’s ruling. A September assessment from Human Rights Watch welcomed the proposed reforms for excising discriminatory references from laws on child protection, media, advertising and education but observed that similar restrictions in the Family Protection Act would remain untouched. The organization called for additional measures to fully address the outstanding issues.
Magyar avoided focusing on LGBTQ rights during his election campaign yet has since conveyed a more open stance and willingness to revisit certain Orban-era initiatives. The former prime minister had defended the 2021 law as a means to protect children, though it attracted broad criticism from EU partners and rights groups for discriminating against the community. Magyar’s broader objectives include mending relations with Brussels and securing the release of withheld EU funds tied in part to rule-of-law and rights concerns.
This year Budapest Pride took place without the legal obstacles that had blocked it in 2025 under the prior framework, Al Jazeera reported. Magyar has also indicated consideration of easing a 2020 adoption rule that had prevented same-sex couples from adopting by limiting the practice to married couples. Separate advocacy continues for overturning the prohibition on legal gender recognition established during Orban’s time in office, a Hungarian Conservative article from late September noted.
