Hungary bans kids from World Press Photo exhibit under LGBTQ content regulation

Minors are not allowed to attend a prestigious press photo exhibition in Hungary due to LGBTQ content. 

A set of photographs depicting an elderly LGBTQ community in the Philippines was judged inappropriate for children due to several of the subjects dressing in drag. 

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government has made a push to implement morality laws in Hungary over the last few years. 

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The pictures at the heart of the controversy depict the “Golden Gays” community of the Philippines — a group of elderly homosexuals who coordinate pageants and drag contests.

Children are banned from consuming media or attending events that promote homosexuality. These restrictions are applied widely to television, movies, books and advertising.

Hungarian lawmaker Dora Duro was one of the individuals who reported the exhibit after visiting, saying the country must consider carefully what norms it conveys to the youth.

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“How the LGBTQ minority lives is not the biggest problem in the world,” Duro said of LGBT censorship laws. “What we see as normal, what we depict and what we convey to (children) as valuable influences them, and this exhibition is clearly harmful to minors and, I think, to adults too.”

World Press Photo Executive Director Joumana El Zein Khoury said she was shocked by the restrictions placed on the exhibit.

“The fact that there is limited access for a certain type of audience is really something that shocked us terribly,” Khoury said. 

“It’s mind-boggling that it’s this specific image, this specific story, and it’s mind-boggling that it’s happening in Europe.”