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BUDAPEST Not so long ago, there was reason to believe Hungary was emerging as one of the friendlier places for LGBTQ+ people in the former Eastern Bloc.
In the first two decades after the Cold War ended, many of the country’s discriminatory laws were stricken from the books as one of the region’s largest LGBTQ+ movements came into the open. The advancements reached an apex when civil partnerships for same-sex couples were legalized in 2007 after Gábor Szetey, a state secretary, publicly came out in a speech opening that year’s Pride festival.
“It was huge to say it out loud,” said Szetey, who became the first openly gay member of the Hungarian government with his announcement. “It was a big deal. Back then in 2007, Hungary seemed to be the most progressive Central-Eastern European country.”
This combo photo shows Prime Minister Imran Khan and Indian PM Narendra Modi. Reuters/File
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) information secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb has claimed that the latest report of the Reporters Without Borders is a charge-sheet against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government.
In a statement on Monday, she said Imran Khan’s alleged “authoritarian attitude” and character was defiling Pakistan’s image abroad.
Ms Aurangzeb said the global community had unequivocally condemned the government’s suppression of the freedom of expression.
“The report says that the PTI government is worse than military dictatorships in Pakistan when it comes to press freedom. The Human Rights Watch, Pakistan Press Freedom Report and Freedom Network Report had already declared the Imran government as the worst media gagging administration in the history of the country,” she said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. | Amit Dave/Reuters
Global media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontières has named Prime Minister Narendra Modi in its list of 37 heads of states who massively cracked down on press freedom. The watchdog labelled them as “press freedom predators”.
Apart from Modi, this year’s list featured North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán were the new entrants to the list.
Modi has been on Reporters Sans Frontières’ “press freedom predators” gallery ever since he took office in 2014.
COMING TO STRASBOURG: Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša is expected at the European Parliament this morning, where he’ll lay out the priorities for his country’s presidency of the Council of the EU. On similar recent occasions, Janša has taken advantage of the opportunity to complain about how mean people have been to him and he’ll have something fresh to gripe about today. A special welcome awaits Janša: Two leading figures of Slovenia’s protests, Jaša Jenull and Tea Jarc, will take their cause to the European Parliament’s French seat (with the help of some MEPs), and will present the prime minister with a familiar scene …