BRUSSELS, April 21 (Reuters) - Hungary’s outgoing government violated European law with rules prohibiting or restricting access to LGBTQ content, which stigmatise and marginalise gay and trans people, the European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday.
The ruling could provide a test for the future of social policy under Hungary’s new leader, Peter Magyar, who ended Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s 16-year rule in a landslide victory in an April 12 election.
LGBTQ rights were eroded under Orban, who last year oversaw a ban on Pride marches and let police use facial recognition cameras to identify who attended. Magyar, a former official in Orban’s right-wing Fidesz party, campaigned on support for equality but has avoided taking a clear stance on LGBTQ rights.
Orban, who remains prime minister pending the formation and confirmation of Magyar’s new government, likely to come in May, defended his outgoing administration’s stance on the issue.
“Our patriotic government protected Hungarian children from aggressive LGBTQ propaganda,” Orban wrote on X. “Now the Brusselian empire strikes back. We will not give up the fight for the soul of Europe!”
The European court said Hungary had acted in breach of Article 2 of the EU’s Treaty, which sets out the fundamental values of the 27-member bloc.
It also found that the Hungarian legislation breached the freedom to provide and receive services, as well as data protection laws.
(Reporting by Suban Abdulla, additional reporting by Alan Charlish,Editing by Peter Graff and Gareth Jones)
