BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungary’s National Election Committee approved on Friday the government’s list of questions on LGBT issues it wants to put on a referendum as part of what Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called an “ideological war” with the European Union.
Orban, in power since 2010, proposed a referendum on ruling party legislation that limits schools’ teaching about homosexuality and transgender issues last week, stepping up a stand-off with the EU.
A spokesman for the Committee confirmed to Reuters that the panel had approved the government’s questions shortly after local news website Telex.hu first reported the news.
Facing a tough election next year, Orban has grown increasingly radical on social policy to protect what he says are traditional Christian values from Western liberalism.
Hungarians will be asked whether they support the holding of sexual orientation workshops in schools without parents’ consent, and whether they believe gender reassignment procedures should be promoted among children.
They will also be asked whether content that could affect sexual orientation should be shown to children without any restrictions, and whether gender reassignment procedures should be made available to children.
(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Anita Komuves; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
