Seventeen European Union countries accused Hungary on Tuesday of contravening fundamental EU values by passing laws that target LGBTQ+ people, as tensions deepen between Budapest and a majority of member states.
Hungary’s parliament passed legislation in March that creates a legal basis to ban Pride marches there and lets police use facial recognition cameras to identify people who attend. It also approved constitutional changes in April stipulating that Hungary recognizes only two sexes, male and female.
"We are highly alarmed by these developments which run contrary to the fundamental values of human dignity, freedom, equality and respect for human rights," the governments of the 17 countries said in a joint statement.