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| - Hungary's parliament on Tuesday passed a law banning the "promotion" of homosexuality to minors in what critics have slammed as a crackdown on LGBTQ rights. The law passed with 157 votes in favour and one vote against in the parliament controlled by right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban's Fidesz party. More than 5,000 people rallied outside the Hungarian parliament late Monday against the legislation, which is the latest in a series of measures targeting paedophilia and aimed at protecting children. Critics say the law would "severely restrict" freedom of expression and children's rights. The bill effectively bans educational programmes and publicity of LGBTI groups, who have compared it to similar legislation in Russia. "In order to ensure... the protection of children's rights, pornography and content that depicts sexuality for its own purposes or that promotes deviation from gender identity, gender reassignment and homosexuality shall not be made available to persons under the age of eighteen," the legal text reads. Sexual education classes "should not be aimed at promoting gender segregation, gender reassignment or homosexuality", it adds. Advertising by companies such as Coca-Cola, which campaigned for gay acceptance in Hungary in 2019, would be banned, as would books dramatising homosexuality. Commercial TV channel RTL Klub Hungary said that popular movies such as "Bridget Jones's Diary", "Harry Potter", and "Billy Elliot" could only be shown late at night with an 18-plus classification. pmu-jza/tgb
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