Orban: Let The People Vote On LGBT Law

Big news from Hungarian PM Viktor Orban today. Here’s part of the translated announcement:

The Hungarian government is initiating a referendum on the issue of child protection, Viktor Orbán announced on Wednesday. Questions will include what parents think about introducing sexual propaganda to children in public education institutions.

There will also be questions asking how much parents support  giving lectures in schools  about gender reassignment treatments. The Prime Minister is asking everyone to say no to these issues together.

Brussels has attacked Hungary in recent weeks for child protection laws, said Viktor Orbán. The prime minister added that the European Union is demanding an amendment to the Education and Child Protection Act.

[Quote from Orban:] “Brussels is now demanding an amendment to the Education Act and child protection rules. They regret that it is not possible with us, which is already permanent in Western Europe. There, LGBTQ activists visit kindergartens and schools, they provide sexual education. Here, too, they want this, which is why the bureaucrats in Brussels are threatening and instituting infringement proceedings, ie abusing their power.”

– said the Prime Minister. He added that the future of our children is at stake, so we cannot let go on this issue. When the pressure on our country is so strong, only the common will of the people can protect Hungary.

The referendum questions will be:

Do you support having a sexual orientation session in a public education institution without parental consent?Do you support the promotion of gender reassignment treatments for minor children?Do you support the availability of gender reassignment treatments for minors?Do you support the unrestricted presentation of sexual media content to minors that affects their development?Do you support the display of gender-sensitive media content to minor children?

This is a brilliant move. The Hungarian opposition did not vote on the law, because they saw it as manipulative. There was broad agreement among all parliamentarians that Hungary’s anti-pedophilia laws needed strengthening. Fidesz, Orban’s party, added to it the LGBT propaganda law banning the things implicit in those five questions. The liberal opposition believed — no doubt correctly — that this was a political move to strongarm them into voting for a bill (the anti-LGBT information bill) that they oppose, or stand accused of being soft on pedophilia. They’re right — it was a brash and manipulative political move. Nevertheless, the legislation itself, in my view, was correct and necessary. I found myself the other day speaking to a critic of the legislation, but when I explained to him how far this propaganda has gone in the US, he was visibly shocked, and admitted that he was out of touch, and had no idea that things were that bad in America.

Anyway, now the Orban government is going to give the entire Hungarian people the opportunity to vote on this. The Hungarian observer who first brought this to my attention says it is inconceivable that majorities will not deliver a resounding NO to all the referendum questions. If that happens, it will put the European Union leaders in opposition not just to Orban, but to a majority of the Hungarian nation. The EU’s attack on Hungary over this law will be clearly seen as an attack not just on Orban and the Fidesz-led government, but on the entire nation and its values.

Which is certainly is! But the referendum will make that explicit. There is no date set for the referendum. It would be a baller move to make it on the same day as the 2022 elections, to drive voter turnout for Fidesz, but my Hungarian observer friend says she thinks it will be held much sooner.

Is this an attempt by Orban to distract people from the Pegasus scandal? Sure, probably. But whatever his motivations, the fact is that this is an extremely important issue involving the fundamental moral sense of Hungarian society, and the protection of its children from this ideology. If I were Hungarian, I wouldn’t care what Viktor Orban’s motives were for this move — I would just be grateful that he was making it. All the Central European governments should do the same. Let the people vote. Quit allowing these liberal Western cultural oligarchs and their legislative water-carriers decide to rewrite the moral law.

We had similar referendums in the US on gay marriage back in the first decade of this century. Gay marriage was voted down in most, and maybe all, of them. But the Supreme Court overruled all of them. At least in Hungary, an oligarchical EU elite won’t be able to invalidate the will of the people. Good for Hungary.

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