EU takes Hungary to highest court over LGBT, media rules

Source: Associated Press

EU takes Hungary to highest court over LGBT, media rules

By RAF CASERT and JUSTIN SPIKE
July 15, 2022

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive intensified its legal standoff with Hungary on Friday by taking the country to the EU’s highest court over a restrictive law on LGBT issues and media freedom.

The EU had already tried for a year to make Hungary change a law that bans content portraying or promoting homosexuality. The European Commission said it “discriminates against people on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.”

“The Commission considers that the law violates the internal market rules, the fundamental rights of individuals (in particular LGBTIQ people) as well as — with regard to those fundamental rights — the EU values,” the statement said.

It was the latest episode in a long political battle in which Brussels perceives Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as deliberately stepping away from the cornerstones of Western democracy while Hungary depicts the European Commission as overly meddling in internal politics and imposing moral standards it considers far too liberal.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/hungary-gender-identity-gay-rights-5a18372fabda636154783d5fd3557608