Czech President Miloš Zeman denounced the transgender community as “intrinsically disgusting,” commenting on a Hungarian law that bans LGBTQ material from schools and television for children.
The outspoken Czech leader wasn’t shy about sharing his views on gender-identity issues during an interview with CNN Prima NEWS on Sunday.
“I can understand gays, lesbians, and so on. But do you know who I don’t understand at all? The transgender,” Zeman said.“If someone undergoes a sex-change operation, he commits a crime of self-harm. Every operation is a risk. And these transgender people are really intrinsically disgusting to me.”
Zeman’s remarks were made in connection with a recently passed Hungarian law that prohibits any “display and promotion” of sexual content — including gender identity issues, gender reassignment, and homosexuality — to children under 18 years old. The law was included in a larger bill intended to crack down on pedophilia by creating a register of child-sex offenders, implementing stricter punishments for child pornography, and barring pedophile offenders from jobs where they would encounter children.
The law has already been aggressively condemned by 17 countries of the European Union, with some ironically calling to exclude Hungary from the ultra-liberal and tolerant European Union. “For me, Hungary has no place in the EU anymore,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said. Radio Free Europe reports that Sweden’s EU affairs minister called the Hungarian law “grotesque,” while his Dutch colleague called on Budapest to undo it and Ireland said the bloc should sue Hungary through the top EU court. Benelux countries authored a joint declaration calling the law a violation of the right to freedom of expression and a “flagrant form of discrimination based on sexual orientation.” The EU Commission has triggered legal proceedings against the Hungarian legislation, and EU Parliament President David Sassoli threatened to halt Hungary’s COVID-19 relief payments over the pro-children law.
President Zeman said these actions amounted to meddling in Hungary’s internal affairs, which he believes is unacceptable.
According to Zeman, “[Hungarian Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán is not against homosexuals, but against the manipulation not only of parents, but also of children in sex education…. I see no reason to disagree with him, because I am completely annoyed by the suffragettes, the MeToo movement and Prague Pride.”
Czech president went on to express his belief that sexual orientation is everyone’s personal business and should not be put on display. “If someone is a member of one or another sexual minority, it is their private business. When he demonstrates that he has this orientation, he rises himself above the others,” Zeman added. “If I were a little younger, I would organize a huge demonstration of heterosexuals in Prague,” Zeman added, semi-jokingly. “And there will be millions of us. And I would take buses and trains to Prague for all the heterosexuals so that everyone can see how meaningless it [LGBTQ Pride] is.”
However, the president further stated that he has nothing against teaching sex education, including LGBT groups, but only to older students in high school. “We’re talking about elementary school kids here. The children can’t even really understand that,” Zeman added.
Zeman’s remarks correspond with arguments made by a spokesperson for the Hungarian government, Dr. Zoltan Kovac, that “There are contents which children under a certain age can misunderstand and which may have a detrimental effect on their development at the given age, or which children simply cannot process, and which could therefore confuse their developing moral values or their image of themselves or the world.”
Zeman’s social conservatism is well-known, but the interview has nonetheless prompted fierce outrage among Czech LGBTQ organizations, per the Independent.
“We are extremely saddened to hear such comments coming from the president,” Daniel Zikmund, from the Prague Pride Association, said. “His statements will be very damaging to the mental health of LGBT+ people.”
It is feared the president’s “endorsement” of anti-LGBT sentiments will grant greater legitimacy to such attitudes in the country of 10.7 million people.
“Although the majority of the Czech population supports equal rights for LGBT+ people, transgender people remain the group most discriminated against. And only a few weeks ago, a gay couple were openly attacked in Prague. This is worrying to see,” complained Zikmund.
The Czech leader, who has limited executive powers, but is believed to have a strong influence on public debate, routinely makes headlines with his political commentary. In 2016, he came under fire for saying it was “practically impossible” to integrate Muslim migrants into Europe.
Two years later, he was confronted by a topless FEMEN activist at a polling station in Prague. He later said he “felt honored” to have been targeted by the chest-baring “sextremists,” because they had also attacked the Catholic Church at the Vatican.
