In A First, The EU’s Top Court Has Found Hungary’s Anti-LGBTQ Law Is Illegal And Breaches The EU's Values
The court said Hungary's law constituted a coordinated series of discriminatory measures that breached those values, according to the court's press release.
Hungary's anti-LGBTQ law has been found to be illegal under European Union law, after the EU's top court ruled on April 21 that the legislation violates the bloc's founding values, according to a press release from the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Hungary amended its constitution in 2011 to define marriage exclusively as between a man and a woman. In 2020, parliament banned legal gender recognition for transgender people entirely.
In 2021, Hungary's government under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán passed a law banning any content depicting gay or transgender people from schools and from television before 10pm.
The law placed gay and transgender people in the same legislative title as people convicted of paedophilia, according to the court's findings. Critics argued it made LGBTQ people legally invisible to an entire generation of children.
On April 21, the Court of Justice found the law stigmatises LGBTQ people, violates their dignity, breaches freedom of expression and breaks EU data protection rules. In the same ruling, the court found, for the first time in its history, that Hungary violated Article 2 of the EU Treaty, the article that defines the values all member states must share: human dignity, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of minorities.
The court said Hungary's law constituted a coordinated series of discriminatory measures that breached those values, according to the court's press release.
The Commission's case drew support from 16 member states, an unusually large coalition that included France, Germany and Spain.
Orbán lost a general election last week after 16 years in power. His successor, Péter Magyar, told reporters after his election win that Hungary should be a country where no one is stigmatised for who they love. The EU can impose financial penalties if Hungary fails to comply, according to the Commission.
Magyar takes office next month.
Isha Jain
Cherry Mohamed
Sofia Hou
