(cont.) Response to interpellations 2024/25:538 and 545 on pride and LGBTQI rights in Hungary
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns hbtqi rights in Hungary and Sweden's role in defending these. MP argues that Hungary is undergoing deteriorations similar to Russia and that the so-called child protection law creates uncertainty and self-censorship 1 2. MP asks whether the government plans to participate in the pride parade in Budapest or push for expedited proceedings in the EU Court 1 2. S argues that the government's credibility is damaged by the cooperation with SD, which is clearly homophobic 3. S believes that M has chosen to cooperate with an hbtqi-hostile party and demands an hbtqi foreign policy strategy 4. M emphasizes that the government stands up for individual freedom and has presented the action plan Stolt och trygg 5 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Ulrika Westerlund (MP)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister for Foreign Affairs, for the answer! It is incredibly close to hand to think that Hungary will undergo similar deteriorations as, for example, Russia and Georgia if we who want to see a different development do not intervene forcefully.
As mentioned earlier in the debate, the world's attempts to stop the development have so far been completely insufficient. The law we are now discussing is not the first deterioration of LGBTQI rights in Hungary. Already in 2021, a law was introduced that prohibited material that "promotes gender identity deviations, gender reassignment and homosexuality." That type of material was not to be made available to persons under 18 years of age. This effectively stopped LGBTQI groups from distributing information. In 2020, same-sex couples were prohibited from adopting in Hungary, and it also became no longer possible to change legal gender, which had previously been possible.
Russia and Georgia have also introduced laws that label organizations receiving support from other countries as foreign agents. This is clearly designed to make it difficult for civil society to continue to operate. This does not of course only affect LGBTQI organizations, but obviously, the type of organizations that a country does not want at all and therefore does not support at all are much more severely affected by this type of legislation.
A targeted opposition to the LGBTQ+ movement is often linked with a general repression. The Minister himself mentioned the challenges that Sweden and other countries now face when the USA withdraws almost totally from the LGBTQ+ area, but also from the broader SRHR area. This is also something that the LGBTQ+ movement itself has noted.
In many countries, there is a fear within the LGBTQI movement that one will be pushed aside. When the rest of the world tries to compensate for the USA's withdrawal, the LGBTQI movement is afraid that it will not be prioritized, but rather that it will be other issues that countries find easier to agree on, for example the fight against female genital mutilation or other very pressing issues. Here it is important that the relatively few countries globally – Sweden is one of them – that stand up for LGBTQI rights continue to do so.
The so-called child protection law in Hungary is vaguely formulated. It is also a known method, as the overall purpose of that type of laws is to create uncertainty that leads to self-censorship. Organizations and activists can choose not to say anything for fear of being punished, and the state does not even need to intervene and risk being subjected to criticism from the outside. This is also something to keep an eye on.
I have over the years participated in quite a few different pride parades in hostile contexts of varying kinds. I have also been on site in cities where a pride parade was planned but then had to be cancelled on short notice, for example because the police the day before claimed security reasons and said they cannot protect the parade. So that was the case, for example, in Belgrade in 2009 and in Kyiv in 2014. Now, we were a small group of foreigners who were on site to increase attention for the parade internationally and try to make it harder for the authorities to ban it or cancel it. Just in these two cases, this strategy did not succeed, but in other cases it has succeeded.
One year, which I also believe was 2009, I was in Riga at Baltic Pride. Then the parade finally received permission to be held after a court process. Then one was allowed to march around inside a park with a high fence around it, protected by far more police than there were pride participants.
The organizers in Budapest are now pleading for the same type of support that the organizers in, for example, Belgrade, Riga, and Kyiv did. They naturally knew that this law would be voted through in Hungary, and they have prepared themselves by utilizing all their contacts.
Actually, it was two legislative changes that were made, in the constitution and in the gender equality act. The changes in the constitution were pushed through unusually quickly. The President signed the new law on the same day, and it entered into force the day after the vote.
The next step for the organizers is delayed until the end of May. Then they can apply for a permit to hold the parade, and then we will see what the decision becomes. If the police forbid the parade, it can be appealed to court. The organizers want maximum political presence to make it difficult for the police to carry out the ban.
Is anyone from Sweden's government planning to attend, which ministers from previous governments have often done?
Carina Ödebrink (S)
Mr. Speaker! I do not doubt the Minister's commitment to the issue. As I said in my previous contribution, I share the concern over the developments in the EU and the world, specifically regarding the restrictions of human rights for hbtqi persons. I appreciate the commitment and that Sweden shall be a strong voice for human freedoms and rights for all, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or religious affiliation. The strong voice internationally must also be followed by decisiveness and clarity towards countries that violate the conventions and commitments to which they have pledged themselves.
Mr. Speaker! Clarity is also needed on our own home turf. Today, the Sweden Democrats are part of the government base and the very prerequisite for the ministers' mandate. The Sweden Democrats are a party that is clearly homophobic and violates people's rights with opinions such as that the pride festival is a perverted hype that legitimizes pedophilia, that RFSL's school visits are sex propaganda, and that children are involved in the adults' sexual world.
I therefore want to ask: How does the government view the risk that the government's credibility will be seriously damaged with SD as a government support? SD consistently questions the LGBTQ+ movement and pride and thus also human rights. How credible will the government and the cabinet be when they are unable to clean up in front of their own door?
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Mr. Speaker! The rights of LGBTQI persons are a priority for the government. Sweden is also one of the largest donors in support of LGBTQI persons' full enjoyment of human rights.
The European Commission has the task of ensuring compliance with the EU's common values. Sweden fully supports the Commission in this important work. We work actively within the EU so that all member states respect the EU's common values and the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights.
As I have mentioned earlier, Sweden, together with 15 other Member States and the European Parliament, has intervened in support of the European Commission in a lawsuit against Hungary regarding Hungary's so-called child protection law, which the Commission, among other things, considered to be discriminatory against hbtqi persons. We are now awaiting the Court of Justice of the EU's judgment in this matter.
Several questions have been asked here about what other parties stand for. I am here as a representative for the government and can only answer where the government stands. There is no doubt whatsoever about where the government stands. We stand up for the rights of LGBTQI people. And it was not a Social Democratic Prime Minister who was the first to march in a pride parade – it was Fredrik Reinfeldt. Nor was it a Social Democratic Prime Minister who ensured that a pride flag was raised at Sagerska palatset for the first time. It was Ulf Kristersson, and I am very proud of that.
The Swedish government stands up for the individual's freedom and right to be who they want to be and love whom they want to love. This is nothing that we compromise on or will compromise on. I am also very pleased that there is such a large support behind these issues in the chamber of the Riksdag.
Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank you for the answer and for this important debate.
I believe that we will have reason to return to the human rights of LGBTQI persons in Sweden and in the world on several occasions.
When it comes to the argument that it was the Moderates who had the first Prime Minister who marched in the pride parade and that it was a Moderate Prime Minister who raised the pride flag for the first time, I can say: It was also the Moderates who, for the first time, Mr. Speaker, chose to cooperate with an LGBTQ-hostile party in Sweden. It was not the Social Democrats or the Green Party, for that matter.
This right-wing populist party was until very recently a sister party to Viktor Orbán's Fidesz in Hungary. Until very recently, Sverigedemokraterna members in this chamber and in other assemblies traveled to Hungary on study trips. One does not need to wonder long to know roughly what they learned, for the culture war waged by Viktor Orbán has been waged by Sverigedemokraterna in this chamber and in other assemblies in Sweden.
It is good that the government has, on a number of occasions, taken a stand when it comes to restrictions on LGBTQI rights around the world. But it is very, very difficult to get around the fact that the government has made itself dependent on a party that draws inspiration from Viktor Orbán's Hungary.
Mr. Speaker! Right-wing populism is the greatest threat to LGBTQI people in Europe, in Hungary, and in Sweden. Therefore, we Social Democrats would never allow ourselves to cooperate with an LGBTQI-hostile party like the Sverigedemokraterna. It is a pity that the Moderaterna have not reached the same conclusion. I believe it will cost LGBTQI people dearly in the future. Therefore, I have an appeal to the government. The least one can do is to produce an LGBTQI strategy for foreign policy – so that Sweden can be a leader in the fight for human rights, also for LGBTQI people.
Ulrika Westerlund (MP)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer!
I noted that the minister repeated some of the comments regarding what the government has done that were already given in the very first answer. Therefore, I will also repeat some of the questions that I have asked earlier. I wonder what the government's position is on them.
In addition to the organizers wishing that as many politicians as possible announce their intention to participate in the parade on 28 June, they want our help to achieve a fast-track of the goal that the minister has mentioned several times in his posts – that which is ongoing against Hungary regarding the so-called child protection law.
A letter has been written and sent to the commission with this request. In the letter, the signatories, who are a broad coalition of human rights organizations and the LGBTQ+ movement, clarify that the law that has now been pushed through violates a number of the rights that should apply to everyone in the EU. The minister himself has also pointed this out several times. Among other things, proposals have emerged that real-time facial recognition should be able to be used to identify participants in the parade and punish them afterwards. There are fears that in some cases it could also become a question of prison sentences, which is naturally completely unacceptable in an EU country, for a participant in a pride parade.
What the letter writers are requesting is an interim measure from the Court of Justice of the EU by May 27 at the latest, either by fast-tracking the already ongoing infringement proceedings regarding the so-called child protection law or by initiating a new such procedure against the recently adopted legislative package.
I naturally wonder what the government's position is on this requirement and whether it is something that Sweden will pursue. I would really view it positively, if it were possible.
I wonder again if anyone from the government plans to participate in this year's pride celebrations in Budapest. I have been to various pride celebrations abroad with Swedish ministers from different governments and would truly be delighted if someone from this government also wants to participate.
I wonder if you might perhaps want to encourage the Swedish embassy to hold a reception. It is also something that is being requested by the organizers, since the USA has done it previously and now will no longer do so. Does Sweden want to pick up that baton?
Utrikesministern Maria Malmer Stenergard (M)
Mr. Speaker! Let me finally highlight Sweden's broader commitment to these issues, for we have actually already done what Daniel Vencu Velasquez Castro requests. In January, the government presented a new action plan for the equal rights and opportunities of hbtqi persons. It is called Stolt och trygg, and it aims to further strengthen the work in the area by consolidating, complementing, and pooling resources. This also includes, of course, the government's international work with these issues.
It also appears from the program that the member states – at EU level – exchange knowledge and develop methodological support within a group established for exactly that under the Commission's high-level group on non-discrimination, equality and diversity. This was a question that came up in an earlier post.
We will, of course, also continue to take every opportunity to stand up for LGBTQI people's full enjoyment of human rights in Sweden, in Hungary, around the EU and in other places in the world. But it is also so, as the Prime Minister expressed it a while ago, that Hungary is currently not doing much right, not even in this area. It is moving further and further away from a liberal Europe, and that I can truly only regret.
I cannot answer today whether anyone from the government will participate in the pride parade in Budapest in June.
I pick up this motion and see what we can do with that proposal.
With this, I would like to thank you for an incredibly important debate. See you again!
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.