Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday called on Hungary to repeal its 2021 anti-LGBTQ “child protection” law, one day after the European Union’s top court ruled the measure illegal, delivering what the rights group described as a landmark ruling.

“This is a landmark ruling making clear that Hungary’s anti-LGBT law has no place in the European Union and should be repealed,” said Lydia Gall, HRW’s senior Europe and Central Asia researcher.

The Court of Justice of the European Union found Tuesday that the law, which barred LGBTQ+ content in schools, advertising, and media accessible to minors, violated Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU), the provision codifying the EU’s founding values of human dignity, equality, democracy, and minority rights, as well as Article 1 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. It marked the first time the court found an EU member state in breach of Article 2 TEU in such a case. The court also found the law breached EU rules governing freedom of services and data protection. It rejected Hungary’s child-protection rationale outright, finding the legislation associated LGBTQ+ people with those convicted of paedophilia in a way that encourages hateful conduct.

Outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán dismissed the decision. Writing on X, he said his government had “protected Hungarian children from aggressive LGBTQ propaganda” and that “the Brusselian empire strikes back,” pledging Hungary would “not give up the fight for the soul of Europe.”

The European Commission opened infringement proceedings against Hungary in 2021, and by 2023, when Hungary defended the law before the court, 16 EU member states and the European Parliament had joined the Commission. Budapest did not scale back its restrictions while the case was pending. The Hungarian Parliament passed a constitutional amendment last year banning LGBTQ+ public events, effectively entrenching the contested law at the constitutional level. Hungarian authorities subsequently prosecuted Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony for organizing a Pride march in defiance of that ban.

Orbán’s Fidesz party lost the April 12 general election to Péter Magyar’s Tisza party in a landslide. Magyar’s government, which is expected to take power in early May, will inherit the obligation to comply with Tuesday’s ruling. Hungary is now required to bring its legislation into conformity with EU standards. Failure to do so could expose the country to financial penalties before the court.