EU members rip Hungary over ‘grotesque’ anti-LGBTQ law

Several European Union (EU) countries are condemning fellow member state Hungary for passing an anti-LGBTQ law, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Member countries including Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, France, Ireland and Belgium have expressed their disapproval of the new Hungarian law that prohibits sharing with minors of any content that promotes homosexuality or gender reassignment, according to Reuters.

Germany’s Europe minister, Michael Roth, told reporters that Hungary and Poland were trampling freedoms in their countries, and his Swedish counterpart called the new Hungarian law “grotesque.”

“The European Union is not primarily a single market or a currency union. We are a community of values, these values bind us all,” Roth said, according to Reuters. “There should be absolutely no doubt that minorities, sexual minorities too, must be treated respectfully.”

Hungary’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, told Reuters that the new law was aimed at protecting children from pedophiles, arguing it gives “an exclusive right of the parents to educate their kids regarding sexual orientation until the age of 18.”

The condemnation from EU countries comes as the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) declined Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter’s request on Tuesday to allow the city’s stadium to display rainbow colors to protest Hungary’s law.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has insisted that he wants to “safeguard” traditional Christian values from Western liberalism, Reuters reported.