Let’s Talk about Fidesz, baby: the Dangers of State Monopolies on Sex Education
- Maciek Grzymkowski
- Jun 27, 2021
- 6 min read
Two weeks ago, on the 15th of June, 2021, Hungarian lawmakers passed a controversial new law that, on the surface, is meant to increase sentences for paedophiles, as well as other perpetrators of any sort of sex crimes against children. Most people would agree that this is a good thing. After all, protecting a nation’s minors against sexual predators is definitely something that state authorities should pursue in order to keep the children safe from lifelong trauma and physical harm.
The initial version of the new bill was supposed to do just that: keeping paedophiles in prison for longer and establishing harsher penalties for first-time sex offenders. However, certain MPs from the ruling party, Fidesz, have introduced some last-minute changes to the bill that made it take a much more nefarious turn. On top of increased punishment for sex crimes against minors, the new law also prohibited the “promotion and portrayal” of any and all content related to homosexuality or sex reassignment in the public sphere. In the case of television, any LGBT-related mention or portrayal would be limited to the brief seven hours between 10 pm and 5 am. The law reaches even further, though. It prohibits talking about homosexuality, sex reassignment, or any other LGBT issues in advertisements and schools, especially in sex education classes [1].
Expectedly, the bill was passed by 157 votes to 1, and the changes are already taking place. Moreover, Sex-Ed in Hungarian schools is now only allowed to be taught by teachers and organizations directly approved by the government, effectively granting Fidesz (they have an overwhelming majority in the parliament) a monopoly over what the Hungarian children learn about sex and reproduction in schools. So, who are the people who claim to be the ultimate authority with regard to morality and sex education in all of Hungary?
Sexual liberty for me, but not for thee
Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party has always branded itself as the primary protector of “Christian, traditional values”, and they have been the leading socially conservative party in Hungary since 2010 when Orban took the Hungarian Prime Minister’s seat for the second time (his first stint was much briefer, from 1998 to 2002).
Much like their politically astute leader, Fidesz members are also staunch defenders of Christian values and a modest, traditional lifestyle. In 2019, Zsolt Borkai, the mayor of Gyor, a major Hungarian city, took part in a wild orgy on a yacht in the Adriatic Sea, all of which was caught on tape and shared around on the Internet [2]. He quit Fidesz, but was re-elected mere weeks after the scandal transpired.
In November 2020 in Brussels, one of Fidesz’s MEPs, Jozef Szajer was caught by the Belgian police in the middle of containing the spread of LGBT propaganda by trying to pin down as many naked men in one room as possible. The headcount at that particular gay orgy was around 20 [3]. Of course, Szajer’s sexual activities were not the subject of the police’s raid, since contrary to what is currently happening in Hungary, Belgian laws do not openly discriminate against LGBT persons. Instead, he was fined for breaching COVID-19 protocols and the possession of ecstasy.
Both of these instances fade in comparison to the ultimate sacrifice made by Gábor Kaleta, the former Hungarian ambassador to Peru. He took it upon himself to cleanse the Latin American country’s digital sphere of pornography involving minors by amassing a database of 19,000 pictures and videos of child porn on his own hard drives [4]. The files were uncovered in April 2020, and many claim that this scandal was the primary motivator behind this year’s controversial bill.
Not only do Fidesz members do not practice what they preach, but they are also quick to blame the LGBT community for their party’s shortcomings. As a political entity who remains in power largely due to their conservative stance, Hungary’s ruling party is well-aware of the fact that their prominent members’ frequent sex scandals may reveal the hypocrisy and cynicism behind Orban and his cronies’ public claims. This is why LGBT persons are such a convenient scapegoat. The most recent discriminatory bill sends a clear message to the public ahead of the 2022 elections: despite some instances of “bad apples” within Fidesz’s ranks, the party’s core remains staunchly conservative, and the recent changes should be the best reflection of that.
In all seriousness, Fidesz-run Hungary is facing a whole myriad of problems that normally would not bode well for the party’s future. The COVID-19 pandemic has crippled the Hungarian healthcare system despite maintaining relatively low numbers of deaths and infections. However, the annual healthcare budget cuts prior to the pandemic and the brain drain of doctors that has been steadily going on for years, has led to a widespread paralysis of the country’s public hospital network [5]. Hungarian relations with the European Union are at an all-time low, and it seems as though Viktor Orban is deliberately testing Ursula von der Leyen’s patience as he continues to stir up controversy at EU summits.
In a true populist fashion, rather than do something about the issues plaguing Hungary, the country’s leadership has once again shifted focus to a hot-button topic in order to rile up the public ahead of the upcoming elections. Prior to the 2018 parliamentary election, it was all about keeping Middle Eastern immigrants and refugees out of Hungary. With under a year left until the next election, Fidesz is desperately trying to repair its tarnished reputation by targeting the LGBT community. They don’t seem to consider the long-term consequences of their regulations, and why would they? After all, their massive yacht orgies and ecstasy-fuelled sex parties are not the subject of any regulation whatsoever.
Raising a new generation of bigots
Another law that aims to eradicate the presence of LGBT-related topics from public discourse, is, of course, Russia’s “Gay Propaganda Law” which is aimed at “protecting children from information promoting the denial of traditional family values” and banned the “promotion of non-traditional sexual relations to minors” [6]. It was enacted in 2013, and has had an effect on the entire Russian population. In the eight years since its introduction, the law has managed to seep through all layers of society in Russia, making life incredibly difficult for non-heteronormative youth. Homophobic and discriminatory behaviours have been normalized, or even encouraged by the government, which led to the formation of a society that’s intolerant of other sexual orientations even in areas that were previously much more liberal, such as Moscow. Despite being coated in a slightly more neutral language, the recently-passed Hungarian bill has the potential to send the Central European country in the same direction.
The ease with which the bill was passed in Hungary, as well as the lukewarm reaction of EU organs to those news could encourage other right-wing, populist governments in Europe to take similar discriminatory measures. If Budapest can get away with it scot-free, what is there to stop Law and Justice from enacting similar laws in Poland? Terms like “LGBT propaganda” and linking queer movements with paedophilia is already rampant in the Polish national television and parliamentary discourse, while radically conservative legal groups like Ordo Iuris are successfully pushing for the continued limiting of sexual and reproductive freedoms of Polish citizens [7].
Propagandists’ favourite propaganda
What even is “LGBT propaganda” and why exactly do Hungarian children need protection from it? Cognitive markers of sexual desire for most boys and girls tend to develop as early as 11 years of age, meaning that by that time, a person is already fully aware of who they’re attracted to or not [8]. It is painfully obvious that Coca-Cola TV ads starring gay couples or Sex-Ed classes that merely hint at the existence of other sexualities are not going to change anyone’s orientation. As any straight person with a Netflix subscription can confirm, depictions of other sexual orientations in popular culture (i.e. movies and TV shows) are equally ineffective at turning teenagers gay.
It seems as though the only beneficiaries of the rising anti-LGBT sentiments in Central and Eastern Europe are the same entities whose interests lay in pulling that region further and further away from integrating with the European Union. Of course, this is not to say that Fidesz, Law and Justice, or Ordo Iuris are fundamentalists paid off by the Kremlin, since it is also a very effective tool for rallying up the support of conservatives ahead of parliamentary elections. Securing the votes of ageing conservative populations has always been the goal of parties like Fidesz or PiS. Unfortunately, just like with any instance of using social issues for political gain, the real losers are the people who get pulled into the conflict. In this particular case, it is the Hungarian LGBT community, as well as the minors who, as mandated by the law, will potentially grow up to be sexually illiterate, prejudiced adults.
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