The Hungarian government, which made hostility to LGBT people a central part of its right-wing agenda, on Tuesday ordered a publisher to print disclaimers by identifying books containing “behavior inconsistent with traditional gender roles”.
The government said the action was necessary to protect consumers, after Labrisz, an association of lesbian, bisexual and trans women, published a fairy tale anthology entitled Wonderland is for Everyone, which included some themed stories LGBT.
The book, whose authors say the goal is to teach children to respect people of all backgrounds, presents the story of a doe that wishes to become a male and a poem about a prince who marries another prince. Other stories portray minorities in a positive light, including Roma and people with disabilities. The character Snow White, renamed Brown Leaf, has dark skin.
“The book is sold like a fairy tale, so named on the cover and designed accordingly, but it hides the fact that it portrays behavior inconsistent with traditional gender roles,” the government office in Budapest said in a statement.
The order requires Labrisz to place disclaimers on all of its books with that content, including Wonderland for All.
The book first came to prominence in September, when a member of the extreme right-wing political party Our National Movement tore a copy at a news conference. Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orban, whose right-wing Fidesz party has adopted increasingly hostile rhetoric and policies towards LGBT groups, called the book “homosexual propaganda” last year.
Labrisz – alongside Hatter, an allied gay rights group – said he would sue the government over the requirement of a disclaimer, which he called discriminatory and unconstitutional.
In May, Hungary voted to end legal recognition for transgender people. In November, the government amended the constitution to state that in a family “the father is a man and the mother is a woman”, which means that gay and trans couples can no longer adopt children.
Orban’s homophobic policy suffered a setback in November, when József Szájer, a member of Fidesz and a leading MEP, was caught fleeing a gay orgy in Brussels in violation of the pandemic restrictions and drug possession. Szájer resigned from Fidesz in December.