This presentation argues that Hungary’s early post-socialist and EU-driven progress on antidiscrimination laws and registered partnerships proved politically fragile once the Fidesz–KDNP coalition consolidated power after 2010. Under Orbán, anti-LGBTQ+ discourse, adoption restrictions and censorship framed as child protection have been used to reverse rights gains through constitutional manipulation and electoral engineering. By tracing this instrumentalisation of moral panic and identity politics, the presentation demonstrates how illiberal democracies exploit minority-rights debates to undermine liberal institutions and solidify authoritarian rule.
