The conservative government of Hungary banned minors (people under 18 years of age) from attending a photo festival due to the prevalence of LGBT content.
The festival, “World Press Photo,” occurs every year at Hungary’s National Museum in Budapest, drawing over four million attendants from across the world. Its stated purpose is to showcase the best photojournalism and documentary photography of the year to shine light on “stories that matter.”
One of 2023’s featured stories is “Passengers,” which sympathizes with African migrants arriving by boat in Italy; several concern the war in Ukraine; another celebrates technologies that aim to transition economies to net zero carbon emitters.
But it was one submission in particular—“Home for the Golden Gays” by Hanna Reyes Morales—that caused Hungary to issue the attendance ban.
Morales’ report explores a commune and shelter of elderly “LGBTQI+” people from the Philippines that perform drag queen shows for a living. The report, written for the New York Times, laments that the country has failed to pass a gender identity bill but celebrates the progress that its advocates are making. World Press Photo’s jury commended the piece for its “intersectional approach, for holding the people “in such high regard,” and for “center[ing] the community’s demonstrations of trust and resilience, instead of indulging in despair.”
The article criticizes the country’s Catholic culture and society for having “long discriminated against the LGBTQ community,” allegedly barring them from employment.
The "Golden Gays," a community of older gay men in the Philippines, came together to support and shelter gay people who had been cast aside by society.
They are still living together decades later, hosting pageants to help make ends meet. https://t.co/y9L9LWgvQ4. pic.twitter.com/qz4dhnZSA8
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 5, 2023
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A so-called “far-right” Hungarian lawmaker filed a complaint with the Hungarian cultural ministry in light of Morales’ five photos on the grounds that they violated a law which prohibits LGBTQ+ from being shown to minors.
“The fact that there is limited access for a certain type of audience is really something that shocked us terribly,” executive director of World Press Photo Joumana El Zein Khoury told The Associated Press. “It’s mind-boggling that it’s this specific image, this specific story, and it’s mind-boggling that it’s happening in Europe.”
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