Hungarian MEP and top Viktor Orbán ally resigns after being arrested at raucous gay sex party
Member of the European Parliament Jozsef Szajer gives a speech to launch the campaign of the right-wing Fidesz ruling party ahead of the European Parliament elections on April 5, 2019 in Budapest. (PETER KOHALMI/AFP via Getty)
Hungarian Member of European Parliament (MEP) and Viktor Orbán ally Jozsef Szajer, who rewrote Hungary’s constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, has resigned after being arrested at a gay sex party.
Szajer, a top official and one of the founders of Viktor Orbán’s anti-LGBT+ Fidesz party, resigned over the weekend after he was arrested for breaching coronavirus restrictions at a gay sex party.
According to the BBC, the party was held at an apartment in Brussels on Friday (27 November) and included 20 to 25 people, mostly men.
Police raided the gathering as they suspected it was breaching coronavirus restrictions, and found multiple participants naked as they burst in.
Sarah Durant, a spokesperson for the Brussels region’s deputy public prosecutor, told The Guardian that the Hungarian MEP climbed out of a window and was spotted “fleeing along the gutter” to avoid the police.
She said: “The man’s hands were bloody. It is possible that he may have been injured while fleeing.
“Narcotics were found in his backpack. The man was unable to produce any identity documents.
“He was escorted to his place of residence, where he identified himself as SJ (1961) by means of a diplomatic passport.”
Szajer reportedly tried to plead parliamentary immunity, but was told that the immunity role did not apply to his private life, only his official duties.
He said in a statement: “A newspaper article appeared in the Belgian press today about a house party in Brussels on Friday, which I attended. After the police asked for my identity – since I did not have ID on me – I declared that I was an MEP.
“The police continued the process and finally issued an official verbal warning and transported me home.
“I did not use drugs. I offered to the police to take an instant test, but they did not do it. Police said an ecstasy pill was found.
“It’s not mine, I don’t know who placed it and how. I made a statement to the police about this.
“I am sorry that I broke the rules of assembly, this was irresponsible on my part, and I will take the sanctions that come with it.”
The fine for breaking coronavirus restrictions is €250 (£224).
In 2012, Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party brought in a new Hungarian constitution which defined marriage as between a man and a woman and did not explicitly protect LGBT+ people from discrimination.
According to AFP, in 2010 Jozsef Szajer was ironically put in charge of drafting the new constitution, including defining “the institution of marriage as between a man and a woman” as “the basis of the family and national survival”.
Szajer said he partly wrote the draft of the constitution on the train on an iPad.
Other anti-LGBT+ politicians may have attended the gay sex party alongside Jozsef Szajer
Journalist Jack Parrock later shared on Twitter: “New statement from Brussels police says TWO OTHER people attending the sex party invoked diplomatic immunity.
“They say MEP József Szájer fled the scene, was apprehended with blood on his hands, and they found narcotics in his backpack.
“But WHO are the other two?!”
BREAKING: New statement from Brussels police says TWO OTHER people attending the sex party invoked diplomatic immunity.
They say MEP József Szájer fled the scene, was apprehended with blood on his hands, and they found narcotics in his backpack.
But WHO are the other two?!
— Jack Parrock (@jackeparrock) December 1, 2020
Sources indicate that Polish diplomats were at the event as well. As someone who has reported on the anti-LGBT sentiments in Poland, I never thought pro-LGBT activists would be able to use the "you had a gangbang in Brussels" argument against the government.— Una Hajdari (@UnaHajdari) December 1, 2020
Journalist Una Hajdari added: “Sources indicate that Polish diplomats were at the event as well.
“As someone who has reported on the anti-LGBT+ sentiments in Poland, I never thought pro-LGBT+ activists would be able to use the ‘you had a gangbang in Brussels’ argument against the government.”
