VUB alumnus, activist and political scientist Rémy Bonny advocates for greater stability, freedom and protection of LGBTQI+ communities in Europe. With his organisation Forbidden Colours, he advocates for a more democratic and sustainable embedding of the rights and achievements of the LGBTQI+ community in European policy actions. With his latest action, he wants to call for people to sign the online petition to strengthen the case against EU member state Hungary and its 'anti-LGBT propaganda law'.
Hi Rémy, can you briefly explain what this law entails and why this particular case is so important?
In June 2021, the Hungarian parliament passed a law adopted from Russia that censors LGBTQI+ communities in the country. This 'anti-LGBT propaganda law' prohibits portraying LGBTQI+ people and 'promoting' LGBTQI+ topics in the media and in all places where children might be, i.e. almost everywhere. When the same law was passed in Russia in 2013, it meant LGBTQI+ Russians were considered second-class citizens. Hate groups lured LGBTQI+ individuals via dating apps to remote places to kill them. The criminals themselves went unpunished.
Putin was looking for an internal enemy for his dictatorial policies. So, with declining population figures threatening major economic consequences, and an emerging LGBTQI+ movement in major cities, our communities were quickly identified as that internal enemy. Russian state propaganda has been talking about 'gayropa' when referring to the European Union for more than a decade.
In 2021, Hungary, a European Union member state, was going to copy-paste this law. This set off all alarm bells. But it should not have surprised. I did research in 2018 on Russian interference in the European anti-LGBTQI+ movement. That investigation showed that Hungarian government officials, such as Katalin Novak (president of Hungary since last year), went to seek advice around 'demographics and family' in Moscow. Even then, Novak accused me in Trumpian fashion of "lies" and "baseless accusations". Also on stage for the Stonewall Riots commemoration in New York, I warned about the introduction of an anti-propaganda law in Hungary and its dire consequences. Two years later, Novak and Orban introduced the law.
We brought the introduction of that law to international attention with the non-profit organisation Forbidden Colours. For the first time, an LGBTQI+ issue was put on the agenda of the European Council. Tempers among other European government leaders got very heated. Mark Rutte, for instance, said that with such a law, there is no place for Hungary in the EU. After more than a year, the European Commission then finally decided to take Hungary to the European Court of Justice because this law goes against the most fundamental European norms and values.
I am confident that the Court will issue a ruling protecting LGBTQI+ people. This ruling would be important not only to repeal the law, but also to prevent similar laws from being adopted in other EU member states, such as Poland or Romania.
Therefore, this court case is a unique opportunity for the whole of Europe to send a strong and clear message: we stand for our EU values of inclusion, equality, rule of law and democracy. Since 13 February, member states have had six weeks to submit their support for the lawsuit. Consequently, over the past months, we have been travelling from capital to capital to convince member states to participate in the court case at the European Court. From the pledges, we already know that this will be the biggest human rights case of all time. But you too can help in this. We have started this petition to convince all member states to participate in the court case against Hungary.
What is the mission of Forbidden Colours and can you give examples of other (policy) actions?
With Forbidden Colours, we want to enable LGBTQI+ individuals to live their lives fully in freedom, with self-respect and dignity in Europe. In doing so, we focus specifically on the bottleneck between LGBTQI+ equality and democratic security. In several European countries, we see LGBTQI+ individuals being scapegoated by right-wing populist parties, often as part of a broad campaign against liberal democracy.
The anti-LGBTQI+ movement is better organised and funded internationally. They get support from Russia, the Vatican, American evangelicals. People with a lot more financial resources than LGBTQI+ organisations. With Forbidden Colours, we monitor that anti-LGBTQI+ movement very closely. We expose their networks with European policymakers and Russia. We try to get Russian oligarchs who support these networks on Western sanctions lists. For example, we also made sure that the European Commission took away subsidies from municipalities and regions in Poland that had declared themselves "LGBT Free Zones".
In addition, we think it is important that our communities also become more resilient at the local level. This is why we work with the King Baudouin Foundation, where we are the first LGBTQI+ fund. For example, we supported 3 shelters in Poland, Hungary and Romania for LGBTQI+ people fleeing the war in Ukraine since the war or funded the Budapest Pride in Hungary last year. But we also support smaller projects, such as a photo exhibition in Sofia. We do so on the basis that we can put pressure from Brussels, but real equality in European society will only come from below.
The book 'Just A Family' has become a symbol of the fight against anti-LGBTQI+ laws and actions. Can you talk about why this book is considered 'controversial'?
In 2018, author Lawrence Schimel and illustrator Elina Braslina published two children's stories. In Ready Awake, a little boy wakes up earlier than the rest of his family and shares his breakfast with his cat. In Bedtime, not playtime! the playful dog prevents a little girl and her family from falling asleep.
There is nothing special about these innocent stories, except that they star two children living in rainbow families. The first has two mothers and the second two fathers. In spring 2021, the booklet with both stories was published in Hungary and immediately fined for "promoting non-traditional family forms" according to Orban's government. In 2022, the booklet was also published in Russian. The organisation that published it received a house search. The booklet was banned and the organisation, Russia's largest LGBTQI+ organisation, was dissolved by the court based on the anti-LGBTQI+ propaganda law.
As a result, the booklet became a symbol of the growing oppression of LGBTQI+ people in certain parts of Europe. To draw attention to this, we decided with Forbidden Colours to also publish the booklet in Belgium in Dutch and French.
In what way(s) can we support Forbidden Colours?
By following us on our social media and helping support our actions, such as signing and sharing the petition. Those who want to share it on social media can also take a photo with duck tape on their mouths in the process as a symbol of the censorship imposed on us by the Hungarian government. Be sure not to forget to tag us! And for those who can afford it: you can make a monthly or one-off donation to our fund at the King Baudouin Foundation. Donations can be made via this link.