Viktor Orban (center right) presiding over a session of the Hungarian Parliament. – Photo: Elekes Andor, via Wikimedia.
Hungary’s parliament has passed a resolution empowering the government to hold a referendum on LGBTQ issues, as part of a ploy to weaponize anti-LGBTQ sentiment to help the Fidesz-led conservative government cling to power in an election year.
On Tuesday, the Fidesz majority coalition voted on party-lines votes to approve four referendum questions related to sex education programs in schools and the presentation of sexual content in the media.
The questions will ask voters whether they support sexual orientation lessons for minors in public schools without parental consent; whether they back the “promotion’ of gender-affirming treatments for transgender minors; whether they support “unrestricted sexual media content for minors that affects their development”; and the “display of gender-sensitive media content to minors.”
“The Hungarian government proposes that citizens should have a chance to express their stance on the issues of gender propaganda,” deputy minister Balazs Orban told parliament, advocating on behalf of passing the referenda. “We are committed. We believe that we…have to say no to LGBTQ propaganda in schools carried out with the help of NGOs and media, without parental consent.”
Balazs Orbán also argued that holding the referendum on the same day as the general election would save taxpayers money, although it is up to President Janos Ader to set the date.
Ader, an ally of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has not yet set a date for the general parliamentary election, which is expected to be held in April, Reuters reports.
Viktor Orbán, a populist right-winger who has been prime minister since 2010, pushed for a referendum after the government passed a series of laws attacking LGBTQ rights, setting limits on schools’ ability to teach about homosexuality or transgender issues, and curtailing LGBTQ portrayals in media — even going so far as to shut down liberal-leaning media institutions.
Orbán, who has sought to cast Western influences as a threat to Christian values and railed against affirming or acknowledging non-traditional gender roles and sexual orientations, has argued that the referendum is necessary to protect children and foster family values.
But critics note that Orbán is expected to face his first competitive election in more than a decade, and have accused him of using the referendum to rally social conservatives to the polls in the hope they’ll back Fidesz parliamentary candidates.
The former Kentucky clerk -- and anti-LGBTQ culture warrior -- who went to jail rather than issue licenses to same-sex couples is now targeting the landmark 2015 ruling.
A decade after catapulting to right-wing stardom, Kim Davis -- the former Rowan County, Kentucky county clerk who chose jail over issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples -- has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its landmark 2015 decision that legalized marriage equality nationwide.
Represented by the anti-LGBTQ Liberty Counsel, Davis has formally asked the nation’s highest court to strip away the right of same-sex couples to marry.
A Mike Huckabee acolyte and four-time married fundamentalist zealot, Davis rose to fame in 2015 when she refused to issue marriage licenses to any couple -- gay or straight -- after the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision struck down all state-level bans on same-sex marriage, including Kentucky’s. Ordered to comply, she instead spent six days in jail for contempt of court.
With Obergefell at risk and 32 states poised to restrict same-sex marriage, LGBTQ advocates push to enshrine protections at the state level.
By Maximilian Sandefer
August 6, 2025
On June 22, 2022, the Supreme Court issued a landmark decision with Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. Abortion rights were now no longer guaranteed nationwide as the issue was left up to the states. This shock reversal of over 49 years of precedent left reproductive rights activists scrambling as anti-choice state laws stemming from as far back as 1864 were revived and reinstituted.
As people's ability to access to reproductive care dwindled in conservative-led states, activists also found their footing. The 2024 election saw abortion rights ballot measures win in seven out of ten states. As we navigate a landscape where it will likely be a long time before we see any form of successful federal legislation protecting a woman's right to choose, state-by-state activism seems to be the driving force behind change.
Human rights groups, including LGBTQ advocates, accuse the U.S. State Department of politicizing its annual report on global abuses by erasing references to anti-LGBTQ discrimination. According to Al Jazeera, the 2024 Human Rights Report was released months late after Trump appointees rewrote an earlier draft to align with the administration's "America First" agenda.
The revised report, released last Tuesday, adds new categories like "Life," "Liberty," and "Security of the Person." The State Department called the report "streamlined" and said it was designed to stay "aligned to the administration's executive orders."
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