On Saturday, July 22, Orbán, who is known for his anti-LGBTQ+ agenda, once again took the opportunity to lambast the EU and the LGBTQ+ community while speaking at the Bálványos Free Summer University and Student Camp, a festival in a region of Romania that is home to a large Hungarian community. He told the audience that they had no choice but to fight to defend what he regarded as traditional Christian values. Orbán also alleged that the federalists in the EU are trying to squeeze them out. He then denounced the union for wanting a change in government in 2022 in Hungary. Viktor Orbán and the EU have come to blows in the past over his anti-LGBTQ+ policies. In 2021, Orbán, who has positioned himself as a so-called defender of Hungary’s Christian values, introduced a law banning the display and promotion of LGBTQ+ identities among under-18s.The ‘LGBTQ+ propaganda’ law has been used by Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party to attack queer books like Alice Oseman’s hit series Heartstopper, to censor a lesbian kiss in an episode of Jessica Jones on state TV and to incite verbal and physical violence against LGBTQ+ people. In 2022, the EU launched legal action against Hungary over the legislation, saying it discriminates against people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.
