Hungary’s incoming Minister of Education and Child Care Affairs, Judit Lannert — nominated by prime minister-elect Péter Magyar — has drawn significant online backlash after her personal Facebook page surfaced, showing she used a rainbow-colored profile filter in June 2021 to show solidarity with the LGBT community in Hungary.
The timing is significant: June 2021 was the exact moment Hungary’s National Assembly passed the Child Protection Act, banning the promotion of gender ideology and the LGBT agenda in public schools. That law was subsequently struck down by the European Court of Justice earlier this month following Orbán’s electoral defeat.
Lannert holds qualifications in economics and social politics, a PhD in sociology, and previously served as a leading expert at the National Public Education Institute. Her Facebook page also showed support for Ukrainian causes in 2022 and for students who protested the restructuring of leadership at the Budapest University of Theatre and Film Arts in 2020.
The appointment carries particular political weight given that Magyar described himself as a conservative in interviews following his election victory, and that his success was driven largely by massive gains outside Budapest — among rural Hungarian voters who are broadly socially conservative. Having the person in charge of public education openly promote LGBT activism on social media is unlikely to sit well with the base that delivered Magyar his parliamentary majority.