Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban
has reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage.
Orban was reelected chairman of the
Fidesz party on Sunday.
European leaders have called for
sanctions against Hungary over a law that prohibits the discussion of
LGBT issues, including transgenderism and homosexuality, to minors.
It has been compared to Russia's 2013 law that prohibits “gay
propaganda.” Russia has used the law to silence LGBT activists.
Orban has previously criticized the
European Union for its opposition to the law.
On Sunday, he told cheering party
delegates that Hungary will remain in the European Union and defend
its sovereignty.
“After communist bureaucracy … we
don’t want new dictates this time from Brussels,” Reuters quoted
Orban as saying.
“We will not give up the right to
defend our borders, to stop migrants … we insist that marriage in
Hungary is between a man and a woman, a father is a man and a mother
is a woman … and they should leave our children alone,”
he continued.
Orban insisted the EU, which Hungary
joined in 2004, must be reformed.
“We don’t want to leave the EU at
all, they can’t get rid of us so easily,” he said. “We want to
keep our sovereignty and we don’t want to find ourselves in a
united states of Europe, instead of integration.”
Orban, in power since 2010, is up for
reelection next year.