Hungary has fired the director of the Nationwide Museum over LGBTQ content material in its World Press photograph gallery

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s tradition minister on Monday fired the director of the Hungarian Nationwide Museum in Budapest, accusing him of not complying with a controversial regulation banning the exhibiting of LGBTQ content material to minors.

The dismissal of László L. Simon, who grew to become the museum’s director for a five-year time period in 2021, got here after the Hungarian authorities determined in late October that… Five photographs are on display in the prestigious World Press Photo Gallery It violated a regulation that restricts kids’s entry to content material that depicts homosexuality or transgenderism.

The museum subsequently positioned a discover on its web site and on the entrance to the World Press Picture exhibition – which showcases premium photojournalism – that the gathering was restricted to guests over 18 years of age.

Simon, a member of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz celebration and a former overseas minister on the Ministry of Tradition, wrote on his Fb web page on Monday that neither he nor the museum had deliberately violated Hungary’s legal guidelines. Child Protection Law 2021.

“I be aware of the choice, however I can not settle for it,” Simon wrote. “As a father of 4 and a grandfather, I strongly reject the concept our youngsters must be shielded from me or the group I run.”

The photographs in query doc a group of LGBTQ+ seniors within the Philippines who shared a house for many years and cared for one another as they grew older. The photographs present some group members wearing drag and sporting make-up.

The Hungarian authorities, led by nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, did so Restrict availability of materials That “promotes” or depicts homosexuality to minors within the media, together with tv, movies, commercials, and literature.

Whereas the federal government insists the regulation goals to insulate kids from what it calls sexual propaganda, it has prompted 15 EU nations to take authorized motion, with the bloc’s fee president, Ursula von der Leyen, calling it a “shame.”

The Ministry of Tradition wrote in a press release that Simon was dismissed for failing to adjust to the regulation and “by partaking in habits that made it unattainable for him to proceed his work.”

The Hungarian Ministry of Tradition didn’t reply to a request for remark.