Hungary activist on Time's most influential list

A Hungarian academic and activist is among this year's 100 most influential people in the world for her work on a children's book that set into motion a heated conflict over human rights in the Central European country.

Dorottya Redai, a researcher at the CEU Democracy Institute in Budapest and activist with the Labrisz Lesbian Association, told The Associated Press the recognition gave her and others a "sense of safety or encouragement" to continue their work.

Time magazine last month placed Redai on its annual TIME100 list to honour her efforts to advance LGBT rights in Hungary, where recent moves by the country's right-wing government have been blasted as an attack on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.

At the center of Redai's recent work was her spearheading the publication of Meseorszag Mindenkie (Fairyland is for Everyone), a children's fairytale book that retells classic tales like Cinderella and Snow White but featuring characters from various marginalized or disadvantaged groups — such as adopted or disabled children, Roma people and LGBT people.

According to Redai, the idea of the book was to address social issues in ways that are digestible for younger children, and to provide parents and teachers with an educational tool for raising difficult topics like child neglect, the death of a parent, adoption or poverty.

But its publication sparked a nearly immediate backlash in Hungary, where politicians first from the fringe far-right, and then from the country's powerful governing party.

A week after its publication last year, Dora Duro, a politician from the far-right party Mi Hazank (Our Homeland) tore pages out of Fairyland is for Everyone and put them through a paper shredder, calling it "homosexual propaganda."

"You can't pretend that something is normal when it is not," the politician said.

Hungary's hardline prime minister, Viktor Orban, later said of the book in a radio interview that Hungary is a "tolerant and patient" country concerning LGBT people, but that there is a "red line: leave our children alone."

The uproar made the book a bestseller in Hungary, and led to international publishers seeking to release editions in numerous other languages.

Still, the travails in Hungary were not over.

In January, a government office in Budapest ordered the book's publisher to place a disclaimer on titles that "display patterns of behavior that differ from traditional gender roles."

Then in June, Hungary's parliament passed a law that prohibits the "depiction or promotion" of homosexuality and sex reassignment in materials accessible to minors under 18.

That law — along with newer regulations passed in August — require that Fairyland is for Everyone must now be placed in opaque packaging, and may not be sold within 200 meters (650 feet) of a school or church.

Last month, a mayor in a small town near Budapest ordered Fairyland is for Everyone to be removed from the shelves of a local library, citing the controversial regulations.

Redai said she hopes her placement on the TIME100 list gives encouragement to LGBT people who are not necessarily activists.

"Whatever will happen now, we'll get maybe an even bigger international attention," she said. "And that gives us a sense of safety or encouragement to go on, fighting for our rights."

IMAGE: AP