Remember that time CNSNews.com heavily lectured Bernie Sanders about praising some positive aspects of authoritarian regimes, followed by managing editor Michael W. Chapman praising Russia’s authoritarian leader, Vladimir Putin, for hating the LGBT community as much as he does? Well, Chapman did it again.
You might recall that one of CNS’ favorite right-wing authoritarian leaders is Viktor Orban of Hungary, whom it wants you to believe is just a misunderstood populist who’s pursuing a heavily xenophobic anti-immigrant policy. But even CNS had to concede that Orban is such an authoritarian that he’s exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to make a power grab that would allow him to rule by decree.
Chapman seems to be pretty cool with Orban’s stranglehold on power, particularly if he uses it to spread the LGBT hate. Chapman gushed in an April 29 article:
Legislation making its way through the Hungarian Parliament and expected to become law would legally define a person’s sex or gender as “sex at birth,” meaning later in life a person could not legally change their gender. The proposal has angered many European Union leaders and LGBT activists.
As explained by Human Rights Watch, the bill would amend the Registry Act to “include a clarification regarding the word ‘nem,’ which in Hungarian can mean both ‘sex’ and ‘gender,’ to specifically refer to the sex at birth (‘szuletesi nem’) as ‘biological sex based on primary sex characteristics and chromosomes.'”
Also, once the “sex at birth” is recorded, it cannot be changed.
Yep, right up Chapman’s alley.
Chapman did note some criticism of the planned law — in which he hinted that Orban is just a wee bit authoritarian — but highlighted only that coming from LGBT sources in an apparent attempt to delegitimize it:
Prime Minister “Viktor Orban is using the Covid-19 health crisis as cover to push through discriminatory legislation that will be devastating to the lives of transgender people in Hungary,” Graeme Reid, the director of LGBT rights at Human Rights Watch, told The Independent.
“It is typical of the autocrats playbook to consolidate power by attacking the most marginalised,” said Reid. “The EU should act.”
[…]The pro-homosexual Pink News said that Orban’s government is “brazenly homophobic” and had already banned gender studies from universities.
A transgender “woman,” Amanda Malovics, said that Orbn and his Fidesz Party “believe being transgender is — along with the whole LGBT+ community — something that goes against the Hungarian Christian society and breaks fundamental values (such as children can have only heterosexual, cisgender parents).”
As before, Chapman didn’t explain why it’s OK for him to praise authoritarian leaders for things he thinks is positive while Sanders must be criticized for doing the same thing.