Czech president launches disgusting attack on trans people while defending Hungary’s Viktor Orbán
Czech president Milos Zeman opens the commemorative event for COVID-19 victims in Prague, Czech Republic on 10 May 2021. (Photo by Lukas Kabon/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Czech president Miloš Zeman has said that he finds transgender people “disgusting” in a foul rant about about Hungary’s new anti-LGBT+ law.
The vitriolic statement came as Zeman was discussing Hungary’s so-called LGBT+ ‘propaganda’ law which bans any depiction or discussion of LGBT+ people in schools, in advertising and the media.
When asked about the law, Zeman told CNN Prima: “If you undergo a sex-change operation, you are basically committing a crime of self-harm.
“Every surgery is a risk, and these transgender people to me are disgusting.”
Miloš Zeman has served as the president of the Czech Republic since March 2013, and his current term will end in 2023. The elected head of state has limited executive powers, but the Czech president does have a considerable role in political affairs.
During the CNN Prima interview, Zeman said that international condemnation of Hungarian premier Viktor Orbán amounted to meddling in the country’s internal affairs.
He defended Orbán, saying the Hungarian leader is simply “against the manipulation” or parents and “of children in sex education”.
“Viktor Orbán says that he is not against homosexuals, but that he is against the manipulation not only of parents but also of children in sex education,” he said.
“I see no reason to disagree with him because I am completely annoyed by the suffragettes, the Me Too movement and Prague Pride.”
Orbán has been strongly condemned by members of the European Union (EU).
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte called for Hungary to be expelled from the EU should it refuse to rescind the anti-LGBT+ law. Rutte also criticised “shameless” Orbán, telling journalists that EU officials “have to get him on his knees”.
Luxembourg prime minister Xavier Bettel also spoke out against Hungary’s anti-LGBT+ legislation and opened up about his own experiences of homophobia. The openly gay leader told reporters that “being gay is not a choice”.
He added: “Accepting yourself is already very hard so being stigmatised is… it is very far-reaching.”
Seventeen EU leaders have signed an open letter pledging to “continue fighting against discrimination towards the LGBTI community” in light of the new Hungarian law. However, nine EU members – Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Lithuania – did not sign the open letter.
