Hungarian lawmakers on Tuesday voted to strip anti-LGBTQ+ provisions from a 2021 child protection law, marking the first significant reversal of restrictions introduced under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The amendment, passed with 139 votes in favour and 51 against, replaces a ban on the "portrayal" or "promotion" of sexual and gender diversity in content accessible to minors with a broader clause aimed at protecting under-18s from material that could "seriously impair" their development.
The vote is a notable shift for Hungary, which under Orbán's 16-year rule adopted some of Europe's most restrictive policies on LGBTQ+ rights. Prime Minister Péter Magyar, who took office in May after a landslide election victory, framed the change as a strengthening of child protection rules "regardless of sexual orientation," rather than a restoration of rights.
A break with the Orbán era
Magyar's government, led by the Tisza party with a comfortable two-thirds majority, did not need opposition support to pass the bill. The former opposition leader had not made LGBTQ+ rights a central campaign issue, but has since signalled a willingness to revise several Orbán-era policies. The amendment brings Hungarian law closer to European Union standards, after the European Court of Justice ruled in April that the original legislation violated "the very identity" of the bloc.
Orbán's Fidesz party voted against the change, accusing the government of "neutering" the law under EU pressure. The original 2021 statute, officially aimed at combating paedophilia, had been widely criticised by activists and EU leaders for stigmatising LGBTQ+ people and equating same-sex relationships with child abuse.
Tamás Dombos of the Hatter Society, a Hungarian LGBTQ+ rights group, told AFP that removing the restrictions is "definitely an important and positive step forward." However, he cautioned that "there is still a lot to do," noting that many other discriminatory laws remain on the books, including those preventing legal recognition of transgender people and barring same-sex couples from adopting.
Human Rights Watch also pointed out that the bill does not address discriminatory language in Hungary's constitution or restrictions in the Freedom of Assembly Act that have been used to prohibit Pride marches and other LGBTQ+ gatherings. Last year, the 2021 law was amended to serve as the basis for banning annual Pride events in Budapest.
The vote comes amid broader shifts in Hungary's foreign relations, including Moscow's expulsion of Hungarian diplomats as Budapest distances itself from the Orbán era. It also follows a Hungarian study linking cold snaps to higher cardiac arrest risk, highlighting the country's ongoing policy evolution under Magyar's leadership.
While the amendment is a clear break with the past, activists stress that full legal equality remains distant. "Even if the government's sole aim is to restore the legal status quo that existed before 2020, there are still a great many laws that would need to be amended," Dombos said, adding that it is unclear whether the government is working on those changes.
The European Commission has yet to comment on the vote, but the move is likely to be welcomed in Brussels as a step toward resolving the rule-of-law disputes that have strained EU-Hungary relations for years. For now, the focus in Budapest is on implementing the new child protection framework, which the government insists will be more effective without the controversial LGBTQ+ restrictions.
