Hungarian lawmakers on Monday passed the 15th amendment to the Fundamental Law, as the constitution is called, restricting the right of LGBT groups to hold public events while recognizing only two genders: male and female.
The amendment was passed by a vote of 140 to 21, with deputies from the far-right Our Homeland Movement joining Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party and its allies, the Christian Democrats.
Members and supporters of the opposition Momentum party tried to disrupt the vote by blocking the parliamentary parking lot and honking a horn during the plenary session. Opposition groups also protested against the amendment outside Parliament during the voting.
As a result of the vote, the Fundamental Law now stipulates that a person can only identify as either male or female. The law comes three months after US President Donald Trump, an ally of Orban, issued an executive order recognizing only two genders.
The Hungarian bill says the right of children to proper physical, mental, and moral development -- with the exception of the right to life -- takes precedence over all other fundamental rights, including the right to assembly. The Pride march, held annually in Budapest for some 30 years, can now be banned.
The new amendment also says Hungarians have the fundamental right to use cash and allows for the suspension of citizenship and the expulsion from Hungary of Hungarians who are also citizens of another country outside the European Union if they are deemed to pose a threat to public order and the country's national security.
The production, use, distribution, and promotion of drugs is also now constitutionally banned.
The ban on public LGBT events was the latest step by the Orban government opposing the rights of the LGBT community. Since Orban's return to power in 2010, the government has banned gay marriage, severely restricted the possibility for LGBT people to adopt children and has tried equating homosexuality with pedophilia.
