Czech President Milos Zeman Supports Hungarian Law That Openly Slams LGBT Community

Czech President Milos Zeman has ruffled many feathers by calling transgender people “disgusting” and siding with a ban on pro-LGBT material in schools, in a recent interview on CNN affiliate CNN Prima News on Sunday.

“If you undergo a sex-change operation you are basically committing a crime of self-harm,” Zeman told CNN Prima, as cited in US News. “Every surgery is a risk and these transgender people to me are disgusting,” he added.

The volatile statements came forth during a discussion of a controversial new Hungarian law, which bans the dissemination of information revolving around the concepts of pro-homosexuality, gender reassignment, and deviating from one’s sexuality assigned at the time of birth.

Zeman sided with Hungarian premier Viktor Orban’s stance on the law. “Viktor Orbán says that he is not against homosexuals, but that he is against the manipulation not only of parents but also of children in sex education,” said Zeman, according to Reuters. “I see no reason to disagree with him because I am completely annoyed by the suffragettes, the Me-Too movement, and Prague Pride,” he added.

The law met with firm resistance from the other members of the European Union. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week slammed the move and denounced the bill as "clearly" discriminatory. “It goes against all the values, the fundamental values of the European Union, and this is human dignity, it is equality, and is the human fundamental rights,” she stated, as reported in CNN World. More than half of EU’s 27-member states have opposed the law, barring the Czech Republic. Unless it rows back on the law, Hungary faces a legal challenge at the EU's highest court.

Zeman’s remarks were fueled by the recent move, which witnessed a burgeoning of pro-LGBT activities as several countries across the world celebrated Pride with gusto. Prague’s Pride Festival is scheduled to take place in the first week of August. But, a volley of local rights activists fear an opposition with the country following in on the footsteps of its increasingly illiberal neighbors Hungary and Poland. The Czech Republic also faces major flak for stalling the marriage equality law in the country, with its citizens reportedly compelled to undergo gender reassignment and sterilization on the grounds of officially transitioning.

Hungary's positioning has raised many questions pertaining to whether it belongs in the European Union. While Czech presidents have limited executive powers, Zeman and his predecessors have a history of exerting dominion over public debates. The president’s views have often leaned toward Russia and China—slamming immigration from Muslim countries.