After Hungarian Official Mocks Revenge Porn Conviction, MEP Cyrus Engerer Denounces ‘Spreading Of Hate’
Maltese MEP Cyrus Engerer has called out the Hungarian government for “spreading hate” after one of its officials bought up his 2014 revenge porn court conviction to try and discredit his campaign against the new Hungarian anti-LGBT law.
Engerer spoke to Lovin Malta after Zoltan Kovacs, Hungary’s Secretary of State for International Communication and Relations, targeted him in light of his recent appointment by the European Parliament as its lead negotiator on a resolution criticising the Hungarian law banning the depiction of homosexuality to under-18s, including in educational materials and on primetime TV.
“Let me get this straight. Socialist MEP Cyrus Engerer, convicted in a Maltese court for ‘revenge porn’, is now the one responsible in the EP for questioning Hungary’s child protection law?” Kovacs tweeted. “Is this case going to be similar? I mean, like an act of revenge?”
Let me get this straight. Socialist MEP Cyrus @engerer, convicted in a Maltese court for “revenge porn”, is now the one responsible in the EP for questioning HU’s child protection law? Is this case going to be similar? I mean, like an act of revenge? https://t.co/ncon8txzNU
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) July 6, 2021
Back in 2014, a court found Engerer guilty of revenge porn against a former boyfriend and gave him a suspended sentence, prompting Engerer to withdraw from the European Parliament election campaign.
However, he ran again in 2019 and was elected the following year after Miriam Dalli stepped down to enter the Maltese Parliament.
A prominent civil liberties campaigner in Malta, Engerer was recently appointed as lead negotiator in light of the Hungarian law, with his appointment agreed upon by 69% of MEPs, and he made it clear that Hungary should face consequences for its law.
“I don’t reply to far-right politicians who target the messenger to deflect from the message,” Engerer told Lovin Malta about Kovacs’ tweet.
“During the past two weeks, I was tasked by the European Parliament to build up a human rights coalition across parties, write and negotiate a resolution to call for the end of hate against the LGBTIQ community following breaches of fundamental EU values and laws.”
“The result was five political groups in the EP give their support, 69% of MEPs voting in favour (with 22% voting against).”
“It’s sad to see the Hungarian Government hate spreading across the country and beyond. In the past few weeks, we had gay doctors beaten up in the city of Pècs, two women beaten up for having painted rainbow flags on their faces and a barrage of insults reaching gay MEPs in the European Parliament.”
“Nothing will deter me from continuing to work in favour of human rights and equality.”
Besides Kovacs’ tweet, Engerer has been hit with a barrage of disgusting and homophobic comments on his social media photos with his boyfriend Randolph Debattista.
Engerer’s assistant Pia Micallef recently shared some of these comments, stating that “this is what it is like to be a gay politician defending the rights of LGBTQIA+ citizens across the EU.
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