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Since the amendment known at first as the “Anti-Pedophile Law” but since then rather called the “Child Protection Law” was passed, the media authority has received more than 130 complaints citing the portrayal of homosexuality or calling for the protection of minors. In the same six-month period last year, this number was only 32.
This article was originally published on our sister-site, Ungarn Heute.
The National Media and Infocommunication Authority has recently received more than 130 complaints citing the portrayal of homosexuality and calling for the protection of minors, reports the portal RTL.hu, which is critical of the government. On June 15, the Hungarian parliament passed the so-called “Child Protection Act,” which prohibits pornographic content and content depicting sexuality for personal purposes from being made available to children under the age of eighteen. The new regulations also prohibit the display or promotion of “gender abnormalities, gender reassignment, and homosexuality.”
Complaints can be filed with the so-called government agencies, and this has happened in large numbers in recent months.
Among them were also cases, with which one probably wanted to make fun of the new regulations:
In the western Hungarian county of Vas, for example, a complaint was filed by someone who thought that the stories of Sleeping Beauty, The Lion King, Mulan, and Pumuckl challenged traditional gender roles. The government office investigated this case for fourteen days, but then concluded that the complaint was not sufficiently substantiated.
In one case, a fine was also imposed, but it was not yet based on the amendment to the law adopted in June. Pest County Council fined the publisher of the book “What a Family!” 250,000 forints (about 700 euros) because the book about rainbow families was “placed in bookstores in a misleading manner, which constitutes a violation of the law prohibiting unfair business practices.” Accordingly, the book by Lawrence Schimel and Elīna Brasliņa should have been labeled because it “does not depict normal families.” The head of the office, Richárd Tarnai, a former Fidesz-KDNP MP, told the HírTv television station that the publisher had not respected the law, according to which it requires a special notice that the book has “different content from the usual.” The proceedings against the bookstore had been initiated before the law was passed, he said. Rather, the Act against Unfair Competition had been applied. The fined retailer took the case to court.
A library in Pest County was also reported for keeping a book on homosexuality on a shelf that was easily accessible to children; however, since the book was no longer available at the time of the investigation, no proceedings were initiated in this case either.
Souces: RTL.hu
Featured photo illustration by Zsolt Czeglédi/MTI
