MTV to hold EMAs in Hungary to “stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community”

In a bid to show solidarity with Hungary’s LGBTQ+ community, MTV will be holding its Europe Music Awards in Budapest.

Announcing the move on 19 October, MTV confirmed the choice was made after the country prohibited the “display and promotion of homosexuality” to those under-18.

“The decision was very clear to all of us. We should not move the event,” MTV Entertainment Group Worldwide President, Chris McCarthy, wrote in a memo to staff.

He continued: “Instead, we should move forward, using the show as an opportunity to stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community in Hungary and around the world as we continue to fight for equality for all.”

As Viktor Orbán’s ruling party continues to curtail the rights of LGBTQ+ citizens, lawmakers in the country passed the legislation on 15 June – banning “content promoting gender change or homosexuality” within the school curriculum.

The legislation was passed by 157 votes to just one in the National Assembly, despite leading human rights officials and activists in Europe criticising the bill as “an affront against the rights and identities of LGBTI persons”.

The ruling national-conservative Fidesz party were joined by the right-wing Jobbik party in overwhelmingly voting in favour of the new measure, while an independent lawmaker voted against it.

Leftist opposition parties boycotted the voting session in protest, while thousands of LGBTQ+ activists held a demonstration in Budapest on 14 June in an unsuccessful effort to prevent the new measure being passed into law.

LGBTQ+ activists and human rights groups have condemned the legislature, seeing it as another opportunity for LGBTQ+ citizens to be harassed and discriminated against because of their sexual orientations and/or gender identities.

The post MTV to hold EMAs in Hungary to “stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community” appeared first on GAY TIMES.