Hungarian President Sparks Debate with UN Speech

Hungary’s President, Katalin Novak, recently addressed the UN General Assembly and stirred controversy by focusing her speech on what she referred to as “anti-family” values. Despite earlier earning goodwill within the LGBTQ+ community for vetoing a bill that would have allowed anonymous reports about same-sex families with children, her latest statements raised eyebrows.

In her UN address, President Novak emphasized parental rights and what she perceived as a growing trend of “anti-family” rhetoric. She argued that declining birth rates posed a more significant threat to humanity than global warming, echoing Elon Musk’s similar sentiment from April 2022.

Taking to Twitter, Novak recapped her speech, suggesting that demographic decline should be a top concern. She stressed the importance of strengthening and supporting families to combat this crisis, asserting that the right to raise children belongs to parents, not the state, NGOs, or the media.

While some of Novak’s points, such as “appreciation for the elderly” and ensuring that parents with children aren’t disadvantaged, seemed reasonable, her assertion that “those born as girls should be allowed to grow up as girls, and boys as boys” drew criticism.

Hungary has faced LGBTQ+ controversies in recent years, including ending legal recognition for transgender individuals in 2020 and enacting the Child Protection Act in 2021, which restricts discussions of LGBTQ+ topics in schools and the media. The country’s constitution also defines marriage as between “one man and one woman.”

President Novak’s speech, despite her earlier veto, has reignited concerns within the LGBTQ+ community and prompted debate about the true motivations behind her emphasis on “anti-family” values at the UN General Assembly.

Re-reported from the article originally published in The Pink News