On Wednesday, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel delivered an impassionate speech at the European Parliament condemning an anti-LGBTQIA+ law that was recently passed by Hungary.

During an address to the European Parliament on Wednesday, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel condemned a controversial Hungarian law, calling for the rights of LGBTQIA+ people to be "respected."

"If anyone in this assembly believes that you become a homosexual because you have watched TV, (...) listened to a song (...) they have not understood anything," Bettel told MEPs.

Hungary passed a law in June 2021 banning the "representation or promotion" of homosexuality and gender reassignment among minors.

"The hardest thing for a gay man is to accept himself," the Luxembourger said, who is himself gay and heavily involved in defending the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. "We are not asking for pity, we are not asking for solidarity, we are not asking for compassion, we are just asking for respect," he declared.

Speaking about "young people (who) commit suicide because they cannot express their own homosexuality," the Prime Minister said that "stigmatising them, telling them that it is the fault of education, culture, or the entertainment industry, that for me is contrary to what the European Union stands for, [which is] openness and tolerance."

"I am ashamed that some colleagues want to win votes on the backs of minorities; we have already gone down that road once in our history," Bettel warned.

When the Hungarian law was passed, several European leaders condemned it, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling it a "disgrace." The EU executive opened an infringement procedure against Budapest before referring the case to the EU Court of Justice in December 2022.

Fifteen EU countries, including Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Germany, have joined the Commission's case, which is also supported by the European Parliament.

The Commission believes that the law violates, among other things, Article 2 of the EU Treaty – in particular the respect of human rights and non-discrimination – and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Clip from the Prime Minister's speech (in French):