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After the ruling, the European Commission initiated an infringement procedure against Hungary at the CJEU.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Luxembourg court said that Hungary’s legal changes aimed at stricter punishment for perpetrators of paedophile crime was in contravention with several EU laws such as rules of the internal EU market, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as GDPR.
According to the CJEU, Hungary’s regulations are not compatible with the prohibition on discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.
Stipulations in the Hungarian law concerning sex change, a depiction or promoting of homosexuality are based on the assumption that any such depiction or promotion, irrespective of its actual content, could harm the interests of children.
That approach suggests a preference for certain sexual orientations as opposed to others, therefore it is discriminative, the court said.
The Hungarian law puts a stigma on and marginalizes non-heterosexual people and considers them harmful for the physical, spiritual or moral development of minors purely based on their sexual identity, the statement said, adding that the legislation associates those people with perpetrators of paedophile crimes, which could contribute to increased stigmatisation and could trigger hatred against them.
The Hungarian legislation violates fundamental rights, and cannot be supported by the Hungarian government’s arguments for promoting the interests of children as well as the right of parents to ensuring an education for their children in line with their religious, political, or pedagogical rules, the statement said.
Hungary’s prohibition of media content depicting or promoting sex change or homosexuality is in gross violation of people’s right to human dignity, the court said. They in fact restrict or ban access to such content, the ruling added.
Amnesty International Hungary, Hatter, and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee said the CJEU ruling against Hungary’s “homo- and transphobic propaganda law” was of “historic” significance.
The ruling, they said, “confirms that the Orban government’s policy based on exclusion and stigmatisation has no room in the EU”.
They noted that the court condemned for the first time ever a violation of shared EU values, and hailed it as the bloc’s step from being an economic union to becoming “a defender of shared basic values”.
The ruling will put an end to “homo- and transphobic censorship” as well as to the outgoing government’s “arbitrary Pride prohibition adopted in 2025”, they said.
The human rights groups also welcomed the CJEU ruling as one confirming that “no EU member can use national identity as an argument for discriminative measures violating fundamental EU values.”
They noted that EU members had agreed to respect European values such as human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law as well as human rights including the personal rights of the members of minorities, when they joined the bloc.
They also added that it will be up to Hungary’s new parliament to withdraw the law “or else the CJEU could even impose a fine on Hungary”.
Commenting on the ruling, Paula Pinho, chief spokesperson of the European Commission, said the body welcomed the “milestone” decision. Spokesperson Eva Hrncirova was asked if the ruling could affect the release of frozen community funding to Hungary, and said the ruling’s possible implementation by Hungary would not facilitate immediate and automatic access to those assets.
She said it was now up to the Hungarian government to implement the decision. According to information from the European Parliament, Green MEP Tineke Strik, the EP’s rapporteur on the Article 7 procedure now under way against Hungary, said the ruling clearly acknowledged the stigmatisation, intimidation and legal violations that the Hungarian LGBTQ community had suffered under the “Orbán regime”.
She said it was up to the new Hungarian government to ensure implementation of the ruling, adding that full restoration of the gay community’s rights should be in the focus of plans to restore Hungary’s rule of law.
Anything less would lead to a loss of credibility for the new government, she warned.
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