The Hungarian National Assembly recently voted to lift the ban on ‘promoting homosexuality’ to minors. However, uncertainty has already arisen.
Hungary’s new Prime Minister appears to be following the same policy as his predecessor, at least when it comes to what primary school pupils may be exposed to.
The law against LGBTQ propaganda, which was repealed on 13 October, was introduced in 2021 under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Originally, the law was aimed at increasing penalties for child abuse, but was expanded to also include a ban on ‘promoting homosexuality’ to anyone under the age of 18. The law was later also used as a basis for banning Pride parades.
In 2025, the Orbán government decided to ban Budapest Pride. This sparked strong and predictable reactions amongst politicians, LGBTQ activists and regime-aligned media across Western Europe.
At the banned Pride parade in Budapest in 2025, LGBTQ supporters turned out in huge numbers, and many activists from other European countries travelled to the Hungarian capital to show their support for the trans movement. The Hungarian police were out in force, but did not intervene in the parade itself.
Seventy Members of the European Parliament also took part in the event to show how much they love and support LGBTQ rights. Even Greta Thunberg took a break from her Gaza activism and turned up on the banks of the Danube wearing a keffiyeh.
Then Viktor Orbán lost the election to his challenger Péter Magyar, and the entire European political elite rejoiced. Now everything would change: the LGBTQ community would be celebrated, Hungary would open its borders to mass Muslim immigration, and Ukraine could finally win the war against Russia.
Such were the attitudes in Brussels and other capitals in Western Europe. But now reports are emerging from Budapest that are likely to cause concern amongst this political ‘elite’.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar, leader of the Tisza Party, is now promising that, even though his government permits Pride festivals, this does not mean that, as Prime Minister, he will allow gender-ideological education in Hungarian schools.
In his latest Facebook video, Péter Magyar attacked the right-wing media, which he called the ‘propaganda press’, for writing without justification that the gender lobby has once again come to the fore under the Tisza government, under pressure from Brussels, writes the conservative, Orbán-supporting newspaper Magyar Nemzet.
The newspaper points out that LGBTQ propaganda has already appeared at a primary school in Baranya following the legislative change.
Shortly after parliament passed the amendment to the Child Protection Act, Emberség Erejével (EE) turned up at one of the primary schools. EE is a national activist group for the gender lobby.
Among other things, they spoke to pupils in the lower year groups about whether being a firefighter is definitely a ‘boy thing’, or whether it is okay for a man to like the colour pink.
However, this is clearly not happening with the support of Magyar’s government in Budapest.
In his Facebook post, Magyar spoke of ‘lies and scare tactics’ in this context. He said that Hír TV was misleading and frightening the Hungarian people. According to the website Origo, Magyar stated that it is still not permitted to disseminate sexual information that is inappropriate for children, nor is it permitted to provide education on this subject in schools.
In other words, LGBTQ rights are not included in the new legislation from Brussels, which secures a payment of 4.2 billion euros in EU funds for entirely different reasons.
Magyar puts it bluntly: as long as he is Prime Minister, no LGBTQ-ideological education will be permitted in Hungarian schools.
Hungary has several areas which, under Orbán, have provoked reactions in Brussels. The country continues to import oil and gas from Russia. Magyar has indicated a willingness to reconsider this, but, according to Daily Hungary, he has made it absolutely clear that, in that case, the EU must guarantee Hungary access to the energy it needs. This appears almost impossible for the EU, which is struggling to secure its own access to sufficient energy.
Hungary has long had an ambivalent relationship with Ukraine, both because of Kyiv’s sabotage of the Druzhba pipeline – which transports oil from Russia to Hungary and Slovakia – and for historical reasons.
In particular, the situation of the ethnic Hungarians in Transcarpathia is of great importance to Hungary. This region, which now lies within Ukraine, was annexed whilst the country was still part of the Soviet Union following the First World War. Magyar is also concerned about this issue, but is seeking a less conflict-driven approach in order to find an acceptable solution.
Magyar has not yet held a bilateral meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyj. There is now talk of a possible meeting between the two tomorrow, Friday 16 October, as both are attending the ongoing EU summit in Brussels.
