Steven N.
The Constitutional Court of Hungary unanimously upheld the parliamentary resolution introduced by ruling party Fidesz that called for a referendum on so-called “child protection” issues, reports HVG. The court found that the petitions that sought to annul the resolution were unfounded.
With this ruling, the Constitutional Court removed all obstacles from holding the referendum, which will take place at a date to be determined by the President of Hungary. Presumably it will be held together with parliamentary elections in April or May of this year.
On November 30, Parliament passed a party-line vote to hold a referendum on four issues:
Do you support the promotion of gender reassignment treatments for minor children?
Do you support the display of media content showing gender reassignment to minors?
Do you support the unrestricted depiction of sexual-themed media content to minors that affect their development?
Do you support holding sexual orientation sessions for minor children in public education institutions without parental consent?
The government planned to have a fifth question included in this amendment as well, which read, “Do you support making gender reassignment treatments available for minor children?” However, the Curia High Court invalidated the phrasing of the question on October 22 of last year.
Following this judgment, the government then turned to the Constitutional Court to appeal its decision on the fifth question, which eventually overturned the Curia’s ruling and approved the question in December.
But despite a positive ruling for the government, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated in his Government Info briefing before Christmas he was satisfied with having just four questions on the referendum and that they would not be revisiting the issue.
[Magyar Hang][Photo: alkotmanybirosag.hu]
