Brussels (ANSA) – The Hungarian law aimed at protecting minors, deemed discriminatory towards LGBT individuals, breaches EU law, as stated by the Advocate General of the EU Court of Justice, Tamara Ćapeta, in a non-binding opinion regarding a case initiated by the European Commission, supported by 15 member states. This marks the largest human rights violation case brought before the European judiciary.
The opinion addresses a law enacted by the Hungarian Parliament in 2021, which made multiple amendments to various national laws. These amendments effectively restrict access to content that presents or promotes gender identities differing from the sex assigned at birth, gender transition, and homosexuality under the premise of protecting minors.
This contentious law was also subjected to a referendum in April 2022, aimed at rallying support for the government of Viktor Orban, but it failed to achieve the required voter turnout for the decision to be valid. Described as “shameful” by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the law has led to Budapest facing legal action in the EU Court.
In its infringement action, the Berlaymont Palace requested the Court to confirm that Budapest has violated EU law on three fronts: primary and derived laws related to the internal market of services, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), various rights articulated in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, and Article 2 TEU, which outlines the fundamental values of the Union.
The Advocate General recommended that the Court uphold the action on all grounds. Ćapeta noted that Hungary has not provided evidence of any potential harm that content depicting the everyday lives of LGBT individuals could have on the healthy development of minors, suggesting that the law is founded on a value judgment implying that homosexual and non-cisgender lives lack equal worth or status.
Furthermore, the Advocate General argued that the Court should recognize a separate violation of Article 2 TEU, contending that Hungary’s challenge to the equality of LGBT individuals does not merely reflect a disagreement with the Union’s values, but rather a denial of many fundamental values, significantly straying from the constitutional democracy model enshrined in Article 2 TEU.
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