László Kövér is an Orbán loyalist and Hungary’s Parliament Speaker. The 59-year-old politician was born in the city of Pápa where he hails from a privileged Communist family. Mr. Kövér started out as a staunch Communist himself; he even worked for the Politburo. In 1987 as a young liberal leader he received a Soros-fellowship and was one of the founders of the ruling Fidesz party. He is now an anti-Communist, a homophobe, a racist and an anti-Semite. Before you consider this characterization overly harsh, take a closer look at his statements.
For example, Mr. Kövér recently expressed his views on gays. According to him there is no difference in the behavior of a pedophile and gays who want to adopt. In both cases, the child is an object, an item of luxury, and a tool used for self-realization and fulfillment.
He explained that “a normal homosexual knows the order of life, that this is how she/he was born and this is what she/he became. A normal homosexual tries to adapt to society and does not consider herself/himself equal.” (Read more.)
Because Mr. Kövér has openly praised Hungarian World War II fascists in the past, Israel’s current President, Reuven Rivlin barred him from entering his country. (Read here about Israel cancelling Kövér’s visit.)
Richard Allen Grenell is 52 years old and is President Trump’s ambassador to Germany. Grenell is gay and lives with his partner, Mr. Matt Lashey. After Mr. Kövér’s recent comments were publicized in the media the US Embassy in Berlin (!) issued a Twitter: “Hungarian Parliamentary Speaker Laszlo Kover’s comments likening same-sex marriage to pedophilia are unacceptable & a step backwards for #LGBTI rights in Europe @DRL.”
Eighty-year-old US Ambassador David Cornstein in Budapest is mum so far. That is not surprising since he maintains friendly relations with Mr. Orbán and his leadership team. Mr. Cornstein has never criticized the racist, anti-Semitic and homophobe statements of Fidesz party officials. Now it seems that his collegaues at the US Embassy in Berlin took note of Mr. Kövér’s comments and I wonder if Ambassador Cornstein in Budapest will notice it. What do you think?
György Lázár