Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Luxembourg's Bettel lashes out against Orbán over LGBTI law

  • Luxembourg premier Xavier Bettel said he was 'ashamed' to see politicians wanting to win votes at the expense of minorities (Photo: European Parliament)
Listen to article

Luxembourg's gay prime minister Xavier Bettel on Wednesday (18 April) launched an attack on the government of Hungary's Viktor Orbán which has in recent years introduced legislation targeting LGBTI people.

"I'm ashamed to see that some of my colleagues want to win votes at the expense of minorities," Bettel, who is one of two openly gay leaders of the EU, alongside Ireland's Leo Varadkar, told MEPs in the European Parliament plenary.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"This has already happened in our history," he said.

Germany, France, and Bettel's Luxembourg, are among the 15 EU countries countries that joined the EU Commission's legal case against Hungary over its so-called "child-protection" law.

The law bans LGBTI people from featuring in school educational materials or TV shows for audiences under 18.

The legislation came under heavy fire already in 2021 at a meeting of EU leaders particularly for conflating paedophilia with homosexuality.

The commission said the law "discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity."

"If there's anyone in this house who thinks that you've become a homosexual by watching the television or listening to a song, then you've not understood anything," Bettel told European lawmakers.

"The most difficult [thing] for a homosexual is to accept themselves," Bettel said, adding: "Nobody is asking for pity, solidarity, or compassion, just respect."

"It is appalling to think that you can deal with this by a law on the media," he said, directing his comments at the Hungarian government.

Hungary's anti-LGBTI law is as part of a series of laws which Orbán's government argues aim to protect conservative values.

Hungarian lawmakers recently passed a bill that enables citizens to report anonymously on same-sex couples who raise children to authorities, Bloomberg reported.

In response, Tamás Deutsch, an MEP from Hungary's ruling Fidesz told Bettel "not to stigmatise" those who have a different identity, conviction, faith or political opinion from his.

He told Bettel not to call the so-called child protection law homophobic "by stating untruths", because it is only about defying the "inalienable right of parents to raise one's own child".

The commission has already suspended some of Hungary's EU funds over democratic backsliding and judicial independence, and negotiations over unblocking the subsidies also include the LGBTI-law.

Scapegoating of LGBTI people on increase in Europe

The rise of anti-LGBTI rhetoric by officials in Europe seen as part of a global effort by nationalist-conservative politicians to make political gains by scapegoating LGBTI people.

EU commisisoner Šuica sounds alarm on demographic shift

The EU will have to step up its efforts to tackle looming demographic challenges over the next five years. If not, the bloc faces "sleepwalking into dark scenarios", warns EU commission vice-president Dubravka Šuica.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us