Hungary’s incoming justice minister nominee has said Budapest must revise legislation restricting LGBT+ content, after the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the 2021 law breached EU law and fundamental rights standards.
Hungary’s new government plans to review an Orbán-era law restricting access to LGBT+ content, following a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union that found the legislation incompatible with EU law. Márta Görög, the nominee for justice minister, told a parliamentary committee that Hungary would have to make a legal correction after the court’s judgment, according to remarks reported by Reuters.
The case concerns Hungary’s Act LXXIX of 2021, which was introduced by the government of former prime minister Viktor Orbán as part of a package presented as child-protection legislation. The law prohibited or restricted access by minors to content portraying or promoting homosexuality, gender reassignment, or divergence from sex assigned at birth. The CJEU said in its judgment that the case examined whether a member state could restrict access to LGBTI+ content on the stated grounds of protecting children.
Görög said that Hungary’s membership of the European Union imposed legal obligations on the country and that the justice ministry would have to act in response to the ruling. She also said Hungarian legislation could not exist in isolation from international and European legal standards, including the common values of the EU.
The CJEU ruled on 21 April 2026 that Hungary had failed to fulfil its obligations under EU law. In its press release, the court said the 2021 amendments prohibited or restricted access to content concerning divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, gender reassignment, and homosexuality. It found breaches of EU rules and of several rights protected under the Charter of Fundamental Rights, including human dignity, private and family life, freedom of expression, and non-discrimination.
The court also found that Hungary had breached Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union, which sets out the Union’s founding values. A briefing by the European Parliament’s research service noted that the judgment covered both EU secondary legislation and Charter rights, making the ruling a significant legal development in the long-running dispute between Brussels and Budapest.
The law had been criticised since its adoption in 2021. The Council of Europe’s Venice Commission said at the time that Act LXXIX had been adopted in a rushed manner and without proper consultation with civil society, opposition representatives, or other stakeholders. In its assessment, the commission said the amendments were incompatible with international human rights standards.
The dispute became one of the main rule-of-law conflicts between the Orbán government and EU institutions. Brussels argued that the law discriminated against people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, while the former Hungarian government defended it as a child-protection measure. In 2023, Hungary said it would contest the Commission’s legal challenge before the EU court, with the then justice minister arguing that education policy was a national competence.
The proposed review now places the issue among the first legal tests facing Hungary’s new administration. Prime Minister Péter Magyar has pledged to repair relations with EU institutions after the end of Orbán’s 16 years in power. The handling of Act LXXIX is likely to be watched in Brussels as an indication of whether Budapest intends to move from political commitments to legislative change.
