Distributor of book featuring ‘rainbow families’ fined in Hungary

Hungarian authorities have fined a distributor of children’s books over a translated American book that featured families with same-sex parents.

The Associated Press reported that the government issued an $830 fine to the Foundation for Rainbow Families book distributor over the a children’s book titled “What a Family,” which is a combined translation of “Early One Morning” and “Bedtime, Not Playtime!” by American author Lawrence Schimel.

Both books show the daily routine of a child — one with two fathers and one with two mothers.

The fine was issued by the Pest County Government Office, which is responsible for the county surrounding Hungary’s capital city Budapest.

Pest County Commissioner Richard Tarnai told local media that the Foundation for Rainbow Families had violated unfair commercial practice laws by failing to indicate that the book contained “content which deviates from the norm,” the AP reported.

“The book was there among other fairytale books and thus committed a violation,” Tarnai said. “There is no way of knowing that this book is about a family that is different than a normal family.”

Schimel responded to the news on Twitter writing, “I woke to sad news from #Hungary: a fine of 250,000 Florints to a bookshop for selling my children’s book MICSODA CSALÁD! illustrated by Elīna Brasliņa, translated by Anna T. Szabó, without warning that it portrays families different from the ‘normal.'”

I woke to sad news from #Hungary: a fine of 250,000 Florints to a bookshop for selling my children’s book MICSODA CSALÁD! illustrated by Elīna Brasliņa, translated by Anna T. Szabó, without warning that it portrays families different from the “normal”. #acsaladazcsalad #LGTBIQ pic.twitter.com/8YzTZKB9H2

— Lawrence Schimel (@lawrenceschimel) July 7, 2021

Schimel told the AP that the requirement to indicate that the book did not feature a heterosexual couple was “a pernicious concept, often used as a weapon to try to cultivate or justify prejudice and intolerance.”

“It is important for all kids, not just ones in same-sex families, to see these families reflected in books — just as they exist in the world,” Schimel said.

This fine comes just months after Hungary passed a controversial law that prohibits sharing with minors content that shows homosexuality or gender reassignment. The law was condemned by multiple members of the European Union, with Swedish Minister for EU Affairs Hans Dahlgren calling the 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,” Germany’s Minister of State for Europe Michael Roth said. “There should be absolutely no doubt that minorities, sexual minorities too, must be treated respectfully.”