Latest news with #EuropeanCourtofJustice
19 hours ago
- Politics
EU court urged to rule against Hungary's anti-LGBTQ+ law
BUDAPEST, Hungary -- The advocate general for the European Union's highest court on Thursday urged the court to rule that Hungary violated the bloc's laws and fundamental values when it passed legislation barring the availability of LGBTQ+ content to minors under 18. The non-binding opinion from the European Court of Justice's Advocate General, Tamara Capeta, states that the legislative changes adopted by Hungary's right-wing populist government violate several rights protected by the EU, 'namely the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex and sexual orientation, the respect for private and family life, the freedom of expression and information, as well as the right to human dignity.' Hungary's law, adopted in 2021 by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's ruling Fidesz party, prohibited the display of content to minors that depicts homosexuality or gender change, while also providing harsher penalties for crimes of pedophilia. The government has argued its policies, including a more recent law and constitutional amendment that effectively ban the popular Budapest Pride event, seek to protect children from what it calls 'sexual propaganda.' But critics of the legislation have compared it to Russia's gay propaganda law of 2013, and say it conflates homosexuality with pedophilia as part of a campaign ploy to mobilize Fidesz's conservative voter base. In her opinion, Capeta rejected Hungary's justification that the measures are aimed at protecting children, since the legislation 'prohibits portrayal of ordinary lives of LGBTI people, and is not limited to shielding minors from pornographic content, which was prohibited by the law in Hungary already.' She also wrote that Hungary has not offered any proof that content which portrays the ordinary lives of LGBTQ+ people has a negative effect on the healthy development of minors. 'Consequently, those amendments are based on a value judgment that homosexual and non-cisgender life is not of equal value or status' to heterosexual life, Capeta wrote. She urged the EU court to rule in favor of the bloc's executive commission — which launched an infringement procedure against Hungary over the law shortly after it was passed — on all counts. Opinions by advocates general are often but not always followed by the European Court of Justice, which will make a final ruling on the case at a later date.
San Francisco Chronicle
19 hours ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
EU court urged to rule against Hungary's anti-LGBTQ+ law
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The advocate general for the European Union's highest court on Thursday urged the court to rule that Hungary violated the bloc's laws and fundamental values when it passed legislation barring the availability of LGBTQ+ content to minors under 18. The non-binding opinion from the European Court of Justice's Advocate General, Tamara Capeta, states that the legislative changes adopted by Hungary's right-wing populist government violate several rights protected by the EU, 'namely the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex and sexual orientation, the respect for private and family life, the freedom of expression and information, as well as the right to human dignity.' Hungary's law, adopted in 2021 by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's ruling Fidesz party, prohibited the display of content to minors that depicts homosexuality or gender change, while also providing harsher penalties for crimes of pedophilia. The government has argued its policies, including a more recent law and constitutional amendment that effectively ban the popular Budapest Pride event, seek to protect children from what it calls 'sexual propaganda.' But critics of the legislation have compared it to Russia's gay propaganda law of 2013, and say it conflates homosexuality with pedophilia as part of a campaign ploy to mobilize Fidesz's conservative voter base. In her opinion, Capeta rejected Hungary's justification that the measures are aimed at protecting children, since the legislation 'prohibits portrayal of ordinary lives of LGBTI people, and is not limited to shielding minors from pornographic content, which was prohibited by the law in Hungary already.' She also wrote that Hungary has not offered any proof that content which portrays the ordinary lives of LGBTQ+ people has a negative effect on the healthy development of minors. 'Consequently, those amendments are based on a value judgment that homosexual and non-cisgender life is not of equal value or status' to heterosexual life, Capeta wrote. She urged the EU court to rule in favor of the bloc's executive commission — which launched an infringement procedure against Hungary over the law shortly after it was passed — on all counts. Opinions by advocates general are often but not always followed by the European Court of Justice, which will make a final ruling on the case at a later date.
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
EU court urged to rule against Hungary's anti-LGBTQ+ law
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The advocate general for the European Union's highest court on Thursday urged the court to rule that Hungary violated the bloc's laws and fundamental values when it passed legislation barring the availability of LGBTQ+ content to minors under 18. The non-binding opinion from the European Court of Justice's Advocate General, Tamara Capeta, states that the legislative changes adopted by Hungary's right-wing populist government violate several rights protected by the EU, 'namely the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex and sexual orientation, the respect for private and family life, the freedom of expression and information, as well as the right to human dignity.' Hungary's law, adopted in 2021 by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's ruling Fidesz party, prohibited the display of content to minors that depicts homosexuality or gender change, while also providing harsher penalties for crimes of pedophilia. The government has argued its policies, including a more recent law and constitutional amendment that effectively ban the popular Budapest Pride event, seek to protect children from what it calls 'sexual propaganda.' But critics of the legislation have compared it to Russia's gay propaganda law of 2013, and say it conflates homosexuality with pedophilia as part of a campaign ploy to mobilize Fidesz's conservative voter base. In her opinion, Capeta rejected Hungary's justification that the measures are aimed at protecting children, since the legislation 'prohibits portrayal of ordinary lives of LGBTI people, and is not limited to shielding minors from pornographic content, which was prohibited by the law in Hungary already.' She also wrote that Hungary has not offered any proof that content which portrays the ordinary lives of LGBTQ+ people has a negative effect on the healthy development of minors. 'Consequently, those amendments are based on a value judgment that homosexual and non-cisgender life is not of equal value or status' to heterosexual life, Capeta wrote. She urged the EU court to rule in favor of the bloc's executive commission — which launched an infringement procedure against Hungary over the law shortly after it was passed — on all counts. Opinions by advocates general are often but not always followed by the European Court of Justice, which will make a final ruling on the case at a later date.
Winnipeg Free Press
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
EU court urged to rule against Hungary's anti-LGBTQ+ law
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — The advocate general for the European Union's highest court on Thursday urged the court to rule that Hungary violated the bloc's laws and fundamental values when it passed legislation barring the availability of LGBTQ+ content to minors under 18. The non-binding opinion from the European Court of Justice's Advocate General, Tamara Capeta, states that the legislative changes adopted by Hungary's right-wing populist government violate several rights protected by the EU, 'namely the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex and sexual orientation, the respect for private and family life, the freedom of expression and information, as well as the right to human dignity.' Hungary's law, adopted in 2021 by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's ruling Fidesz party, prohibited the display of content to minors that depicts homosexuality or gender change, while also providing harsher penalties for crimes of pedophilia. The government has argued its policies, including a more recent law and constitutional amendment that effectively ban the popular Budapest Pride event, seek to protect children from what it calls 'sexual propaganda.' But critics of the legislation have compared it to Russia's gay propaganda law of 2013, and say it conflates homosexuality with pedophilia as part of a campaign ploy to mobilize Fidesz's conservative voter base. In her opinion, Capeta rejected Hungary's justification that the measures are aimed at protecting children, since the legislation 'prohibits portrayal of ordinary lives of LGBTI people, and is not limited to shielding minors from pornographic content, which was prohibited by the law in Hungary already.' She also wrote that Hungary has not offered any proof that content which portrays the ordinary lives of LGBTQ+ people has a negative effect on the healthy development of minors. 'Consequently, those amendments are based on a value judgment that homosexual and non-cisgender life is not of equal value or status' to heterosexual life, Capeta wrote. She urged the EU court to rule in favor of the bloc's executive commission — which launched an infringement procedure against Hungary over the law shortly after it was passed — on all counts. Opinions by advocates general are often but not always followed by the European Court of Justice, which will make a final ruling on the case at a later date.
The Sun
a day ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Hungary's anti-LGBTQ law broke EU rules: court advisor
LUXEMBOURG: The European Court of Justice's top legal advisor recommended Thursday that Hungary be declared in breach of EU law over anti-LGBTQ legislation adopted in 2021, in a case pitting Budapest against a majority of its EU partners. The European Commission, 16 of 27 member states and the European Parliament took Hungary to the EU's top court over the law, in what has been billed as the largest human rights case in the bloc's history. Originally aimed at toughening punishments for child abuse, the law was amended to ban the 'promotion of homosexuality' to under-18s. It outraged activists and leaders across the EU who criticised it for stigmatising LGBTQ people and equating same-sex relations to paedophilia. The top legal advisor to the Luxembourg court, Tamara Capeta, considers the bill to violate core EU precepts of non-discrimination and fundamental rights as well as undermining its rules on services and audiovisual media, a court statement said. She recommended that the court declare Budapest in 'infringement' of Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), which sets out the fundamental values on which the bloc is founded. Capeta 'considers that by calling into question the equality of LGBTI persons, Hungary... has negated several of those fundamental values and, thus, has significantly deviated from the model of a constitutional democracy, reflected in Article 2 TEU,' the statement said. The opinion of the advocate general is not binding on the court, which is expected to issue a ruling later this year. The case, the latest confrontation between Brussels and the government of Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, could have far-reaching consequences. A finding against Budapest could lead to a large fine and potentially kickstart a procedure to suspend Hungary's voting rights in EU meetings. Provisions in the Hungarian bill, the advocate general found, 'interfere' with a number of protections under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The rights in question are the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex and sexual orientation, the respect for private and family life, the freedom of expression and information, and the right to human dignity. Capeta also deemed the Hungarian law to infringe EU rules on the 'freedom to provide and receive services'. The central European country, under Orban's rule, has passed a series of laws slammed as curbing the rights of sexual and gender minorities -- including a bill seeking to ban Pride march set for June 28 that is based on the 2021 legislation. Since the law was implemented, broadcasters have been forbidden to show LGBTQ content during the day and shops prevented from selling LGBTQ-themed products within a 200-metre (220-yard) radius of churches and schools. Some bookshops have faced fines for carrying graphic novels and other titles with LGBTQ characters in their youth sections, according to advocacy group Reclaim.
