Gay EuroGames will mark ‘the end of the world’, politician fears
The leader of the Hungary’s minority Jobbik nationalist party has reportedly described the gay EuroGames in the country’s capital this summer as the “end of the world”.
Gábor Vona was referring to his country’s successful bid to host the gay EuroGames, which were held in the Netherlands last year.
According to Hungarian news sources, Vona told an audience this week: “God is my witness, it’s not some kind of homophobia but merely common decency that makes me say that this really is the end of the world.”
Vona, 33, co-founded the right-wing Jobbik party in 2003.
Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom (Movement for a Better Hungary) now has 46 of the 386 seats in Hungary’s National Assembly, or 12%, and three MEPs.
Budapest’s EuroGames events will be held in the last days of June this year, ahead of the London Olympics, with 3,800 athletes taking part in nearly 20 sports.
The organisers said the event would aim to “improve the reputation of Hungary as an open minded country”.
Vona’s comments bear some similarity to those made by the Pope last month when he said gay marriage could threaten the “future of humanity”.
According to Reuters, the pontiff said “pride of place goes to the family, based on the marriage of a man and a woman” when discussing appropriate “settings” for children.
Of straight marriage, he said: “This is not a simple social convention, but rather the fundamental cell of every society.
“Consequently, policies which undermine the family threaten human dignity and the future of humanity itself.”
