July 13th, 2012

Viktor Orbán wants the world to know he’s okay with the gays, at least mostly

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Anyone who doubts that bigfoot local journalist/author Adam LeBor isn’t fair-minded in his coverage of Hungary should consider this: At least twice this week he urged me to make mention of the fact that the government’s official portal kormany.hu featured an upbeat piece about last weekend’s gay pride parade, which was put out in the name of the Prime Minister’s Office, and which claimed that “LGBTI community is ranked highest in Hungary among all neighbouring countries.” (In case you are wondering, the acronym “LGBTI” is apparently a more inclusive version of the better-known LGBT, as it adds “intersex” to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered.) His reasoning was that it was only fair to mention this in light of the negative publicity surrounding the government’s handling of the parade. Fair enough!

Only one problem: The item seems to only appear on the English-language version of the PMO’s news feed, and not on the Hungarian one. As for why Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his team want the outside world to know of their gay-friendly bona fides but not Hungarians, your guess is as good as mine. Maybe they are waiting for Wikipedia to come up with a proper Hungarian translation for “intersex” so Orbán can explain to his voters why he’s okay with it.

Erik D'Amato (@erikdamato) is publisher and editor-in-chief of the All Hungary Media Group.
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  • Daddy Jar

    Gáspár Orbán scores 8.7 on the Gay-o-meter, so soon Hungary might get their own Elio di Rupo as prime minister.

  • sheesh

    Typical Fidesz! Nothing but double talk and hypocrisy!

  • wolfi

    Oh, I’m sure leto can explain it all …

    • Bowen

      I’m afraid Leto is going to have to sit out this post. The cognitive dissonance is too much to handle.

      • Leto. مؤدّب

        First of all, let me say it’s very good you’re afraid, postcommie bastard.

        Secondly, let me refute you about my “sitting out this post”
        Apparently Orbán caters for the foreign “mainstream” a bit. It’s his job to do that sometimes. And surely he wouldn’t want to lose votes among the Hungarian speaking electorate who, by and large, have a healthy thinking about fags.
        This is doubletalk indeed. And I’m not losing sleep over it. Performing his job includes ploys like this. I can afford to voice my sincere opinion. He cannot.

        • wolfi

          Orbán’s kutya has spoken …

          Is this official ?

          The prime minister writes things on the English page which everybody knows are untrue …

          And they complain about Gyurcsany – really funny …

          “Ploys like this” – fantastic

          You made my day …

          • Leto. مؤدّب

            @unwelcome foreign alcoholic idiot:

            Yes, it’s officially my opinion.

        • Pete H.

          Poor Leto, how long do think it will be until this news gets out to the non-English speaking Hungarians? 3, 2, 1, 0

          Oh yeah it already did when he posted a video about it on his Facebook page and it was responded to by a majority of negative comments.

          So, he’s not a doubletalker after all. At least not in this case. Your beloved OV is a Gay lover. I’m glad he finally came out of the closet.

          • Leto. مؤدّب

            “it was responded to by a majority of negative comments.”

            Nice to hear. It confirms my remark that Hungarians mostly have a healthy thinking about fags.

        • Anonymous

          Nice to hear. It confirms my remark that Hungarians mostly have a healthy thinking about fags.

          A turning point was reached in 1973 when the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, thus negating its previous definition of homosexuality as a clinical mental disorder. Leto….you are so outdated.

          • Leto. مؤدّب

            Yes, they did that for political reasons.

  • Ma Jar

    Politicians are politicians are politicians, with too many lawyers vying for power regardless of country or continent! They are in it to keep power and to be elected all sorts of promises are made and once in office most promises are not kept. It is ignorant and naive to think that double talk and hypocrisy is the exclusive domain of Fidesz.

    • Paul

      “It is ignorant and naive to think that double talk and hypocrisy is the exclusive domain of Fidesz.”…no, but in other countries, once the trust is gone…they are on their way out

      • Ma Jar

        Paul, looks like trust is still present, at least until the next election and then we’ll see.

    • sheesh

      I don’t see any double talk or hypocrisy from Jobbik or LMP. Also compare Fidesz in 1990 and Fidesz now.

  • olga

    According to the PM\s website:

    \In relation to the circumstances of the event, Amnesty International’s Budapest office declared that „The march took place in a peaceful and positive atmosphere. We are thankful for the organizers, the participants and the dedicated service of the National Police Force.\

    Truly disgusting behaviour on Orban’s part – here is a watchdog for Human Rights complimenting the Hungarian government and the police on the Parade’s success while the rest of the article is also very positive, yet the Hungarian government dared to publish it.

    Obviously Democracy is dead in Hungary because in a true Democracy, only vitriolic hateful and one sided comments are allowed to be published concerning the elected party.

    I only pray the US government somehow gets hold of this article and will have something to say about it

    Wolfi – don’t neglect your duty and wait for Leto to say something positive, it’s up to you to voice your outrage

    • Pete H.

      Certainly positive news but that doesn’t change the facts that:

      1) The parade was denied a permit until after a storm of international and internal condemnation. Amnesty International Hungary was among the groups that protested the denied permit.

      -http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR27/002/2012/en/f16c94a3-e6cc-4aa0-8e90-313b134aa663/eur270022012en.html

      2) This is the same Amnesty International Hungary that has criticized the new constitution for banning same-sex marriage and not protecting the rights of homosexuals.

      http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR27/006/2011/en/b528abb2-32a6-4615-858a-5eeff13f369f/eur270062011en.html

    • Paul

      @Olga

      You missed the point.
      Only one problem: The item seems to only appear on the English-language version of the PMO’s news feed, and not on the Hungarian one.

    • Ma Jar

      Olga, it is not U.S. government business. Pray for better things!

  • Bowen

    OK, here’s how this will go.

    Orban, or, more likely, some high-profile Fidesz associate (e.g. Tarlos or Zsolt Bayer) will sooner or later say how much he would love to ban those disgusting, filthy, foreigner perverts from coming to Hungary with their foreign pervert ideas, and contaminating the pure, Christian, Hungarian family spirit.

    They’ll say it in Hungarian. And if anyone notices it (e.g. CNN, or another foreign liberal news outlet), then a government spokesperson will simply say it was a translation error because of the unique Hungarian language, and why can’t foreigners just stop attacking us?? And it’s probably all part of a coup d’etat to install foreign rule over the innocent Hungarians. And let’s organise another Peace March for Hungary!

    And so on ad nauseum.

  • Paul

    The only reason for the double talk that I can imagine is Viktor feels lonely at meetings with other EU leaders. He is so much ignored and isolated. So he tries to say something nice….in English.His negative reputation within the EU is beyond repair though.

  • olga

    @ Paul

    I don’t know why FIDESZ would not release that article in Hungarian because it makes no sense not to – I know what you are implying but can you imagine another Hungarian political party or publication NOT releasing it if they thought it would have a negative impact on Orban? If I were his policy adviser the first thing I would tell him is to release it in Hungarian before someone else does

    He is not the only PM who is not and EU poster boy so a love story it ain’t, but I don’t believe for a second he wants out of the EU, he just stands up to bullying and I don’t think he is much of a team player which might help but that’s a personality trait that’s hard to change.

    KM is is the one who makes Hungary look bad in Brussels but unless I am missing news, she is thankfully silent these days; maybe she lost her voice after singing that love song to a dummy dressed up in a MG uniform.

    I think you are from Holland – I met this woman from your country yesterday who also hold duals citizenship and I asked her if she followed European politics – She said \Yes I do, in fact I voted but not for Wilders. Do you have any parties similar to his in Hungary? \ – I had to tell her about JOBBIK. I would have lied and said no, but it would easy to get caught :) )

    • Paul

      Fair enough…thanks Olga
      “bullying”…no such thing…..concern and rightful criticising is the point.

  • Bowen

    @ Leto: “This is doubletalk indeed. And I’m not losing sleep over it. Performing his job includes ploys like this.”

    Hahaha!

    Oh, I see. So Orban is LYING. In the morning, in the evening, he’s lying. What a typical, sleazy, two-faced Hungarian politician.

    Thanks for confirming that, Leto.

    • Leto. مؤدّب

      @postcommie bastard:

      I doubt he wrote this from the morning till the evening. So he lied only either sometime in the morning or some time in the afternoon or the evening. Glad I could I help you.

      • Bowen

        @ Leto: “Orbán caters for the foreign “mainstream” a bit. It’s his job to do that sometimes”

        What, you mean, lying to the English-speaking world and making Hungary look deceitful and insincere? That’s part of his job?

        Interesting that you condone this.

        • Leto. مؤدّب

          Yeah. Though refrain from being pompous-… surely not to “the English-speaking world”. Only to a particular segment of that.

  • spectator

    Mr.Orban still acting as an ignorant country-boy who he really is – by assuming that he can pull this stunt too, because everyone else just taking his words at face-value.

    And he is wrong.

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