BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary’s government has banned youngsters under 18 from visiting the World Press Photo exhibition on display in Budapest, citing LGBT content in some of the photos.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s nationalist government promotes a Christian-conservative agenda and in 2021 banned the “display and promotion of homosexuality” in books and films accessible by under-18s despite strong criticism from rights groups and the European Union.
On Saturday, the Hungarian National Museum stopped selling tickets for the photo exhibition for youngsters after the far-right Mi Hazank/Our Homeland party had initiated a government inquiry, the party said.
“Based on the initiative of Mi Hazank, youngsters under 18 cannot visit the exhibition at the National Museum as it violates the child protection law,” the far-right party told state news agency MTI. The new rule was posted on the museum’s website later on Saturday.
The organiser of the exhibition and the government spokesman did not reply to emailed questions from Reuters.
Earlier this year some Hungarian booksellers were fined for selling books depicting homosexuality, which were not wrapped in plastic as required by legislation.
The 2021 law, which the government says aims to protect children, has caused anxiety in the LGBT community.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than; editing by David Evans)
