Originally published 2021-01-21.
In January 2021 the Hungarian authorities ordered the publisher of a children's fairy-tale collection, Meseország mindenkié (usually translated as Wonderland Is for Everyone), to print a warning in the book. The notice had to tell buyers that the stories depict "behaviour inconsistent with traditional gender roles". The book, published by the Budapest-based Labrisz Lesbian Association, includes same-sex couples and a character who changes sex alongside Roma, disabled and Black characters. The order was a small administrative step, but it became an early marker of a much larger fight over LGBT rights in Hungary that has continued for years and reached the EU's highest court.
What the authorities ordered, and why
The order came through Hungary's consumer protection system rather than a censorship law. Following a complaint, officials concluded that the book was marketed as an ordinary fairy-tale collection, with a cover and design to match, while hiding the fact that its stories showed what they called behaviour inconsistent with traditional gender roles. In their view, buyers were therefore being misled, and the publisher had to add a disclaimer.
Critics saw it differently. Labrisz and many writers argued that a fairy tale does not need a warning label because a prince falls in love with another prince, and that treating such characters as something consumers must be protected from sent a message of its own. The order did not ban the book; it remained on sale, and the controversy reportedly drew many new readers to it.
What is in the book
The collection, published in 2020, retells familiar fairy tales and adds new ones, with characters drawn from groups that rarely appear as heroes in children's stories. Among the stories mentioned in coverage at the time:
- a prince who marries another prince;
- a doe who becomes a buck, a story about a character who changes sex;
- stories featuring Roma characters, disabled characters and Black characters, all shown sympathetically.
The stated aim of the anthology was to help children accept people who are different from them, and to let children from minority families see themselves in the kind of stories everyone grows up with.
How a children's book became a political fight
The book first made national news in late September 2020, when Dóra Dúró, an MP for the far-right Our Homeland Movement (Mi Hazánk), held a press conference at which she called it homosexual propaganda, tore out pages and fed them through a paper shredder. The Hungarian Publishers' and Booksellers' Association condemned the act, comparing it to the book burnings of the Nazi era and the destruction of books under communism.
The dispute did not stay on the fringe. Politicians from the governing Fidesz party reportedly echoed the criticism, and the January 2021 disclaimer order showed that state bodies were now willing to act against it.
The wider legal backdrop
The book row came on top of years of legal changes affecting LGBT people in Hungary.
- The Fundamental Law (2011, in force from 1 January 2012). Hungary's new constitution defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and it does not expressly protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation.
- The December 2020 amendment. On 16 December 2020 Parliament passed a constitutional amendment that effectively bars same-sex couples from adopting and sharply limits adoption by single people.
- Migration policy. Separately from LGBT rights, Hungary refused to accept asylum seekers under the EU's 2015 relocation scheme, and in April 2020 the EU Court of Justice ruled that Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic had broken EU law by doing so.
What happened after 2021
The disclaimer turned out to be a preview. On 15 June 2021 Parliament passed, by 157 votes to 1, a so-called child protection law that bans showing or promoting homosexuality or gender change to under-18s in content such as school programmes, advertising and media. It took effect on 1 July 2021. A government decree then required shops to wrap children's books with such content and keep them apart from other books, and barred their sale near schools and churches.
The European Commission opened infringement proceedings in July 2021 and referred Hungary to the EU Court of Justice in July 2022, with fifteen member states later joining the case. In April 2026 the court ruled that the law violated the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the founding values of the EU, and required Hungary to change or repeal it.
In between, the conflict widened. In March 2025 Parliament passed a law allowing authorities to ban public gatherings deemed to promote homosexuality to minors, and Budapest police used it to refuse a permit for that June's Pride march. The march went ahead anyway, with an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 participants and no arrests. After the 2026 court ruling, permits for Budapest Pride were granted again.
The Szájer affair
Hungarian and international media often mentioned the book dispute in the same breath as a scandal that had embarrassed Fidesz weeks earlier. On the night of 27 November 2020, Belgian police broke up a private party of about 25 men in Brussels that breached local Covid-19 rules. József Szájer, a senior Fidesz member of the European Parliament who had chaired the committee that drafted the 2011 constitution, was reportedly seen trying to leave via a drainpipe. Police said an ecstasy pill was found in his backpack, which he denied was his. He resigned his European Parliament seat on 29 November and left Fidesz on 2 December, and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán described his actions as unacceptable.
The case drew attention because of the contrast between a party that promoted traditional family values and the private life of one of the authors of its constitution. It does not, on its own, say anything about the merits of the book or the laws.
Common misunderstandings about the case
- "Hungary banned the book." Not in 2021. The order required a disclaimer; the book stayed on sale. Later rules on how such books may be displayed and sold came with the 2021 law.
- "It was a book about sex." No. It is a collection of fairy tales for children; the controversy was about which characters appear in them and who falls in love with whom.
- "The disclaimer was a court ruling." It was an administrative decision under consumer protection rules, following a complaint.
For parents, the most useful takeaway is the same with any contested book: read it before you decide. Stories that show different families and different kinds of people can open helpful conversations with children about kindness and fairness, whatever a label on the cover says.
Sources: The Guardian, 20 January 2021; Wikipedia: LGBT rights in Hungary; Wikipedia: Dóra Dúró; Wikipedia: József Szájer.
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