Up until last week, it wasn't mentioned or suggested at all that the tightening and accompanying legislation would one way or another contain any LGBTQI features.Continue reading
The European Union cannot dictate how Hungarians should educate their children, according to EU treaties and the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, Justice Minister Judit Varga said on Thursday.
Varga said in a bilingual Facebook post that the European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Hungary in July. “They try to punish us only because we don’t let the LGBTQ lobby into Hungarian schools and kindergartens,” she said.
Hungary sent its reply to the EC’s formal notice to Thierry Breton, the Commissioner for Internal Market, detailing the Hungarian government’s position on the infringement procedure and the “material and professional errors” in the EC’s formal notice, Varga said.
Hungary will protect its culture, national identity and the family values deeply connected with those values, she said. “This right is guaranteed by both EU and international law.”
“We keep ensuring that only parents can decide how to raise their own child. No one can force them to let their child receiving sexual information without their approval or facing harmful content that is inappropriate for their age,” Varga said.
Sex education classes will be held by “by qualified personnel in the presence of a teacher,” she said.
“We reject categorically the assumption that the purpose of the law would be exclusion or discrimination, it is only about the upbringing of Hungarian children and the protection of minors. The law does not interfere in the life of adults in any way, it does not violate the rights of sexual minorities in any way,” Varga said.
Hungary’s fundamental law prohibits discrimination and exclusion of minorities, and Hungarian laws “strictly punish” such actions, she said.
Featured photo via Judit Varga’s Facebook page
