2023 World Press Photo Exhibition In Hungary Off Limits To Teens – Here’s Why

People younger than 18 have been prohibited from visiting this year’s World Press Photo exhibition, on display in Hungary’s National Museum in Budapest, after the government determined some of its photos violate a controversial law restricting LGBTQ+ content.

The prestigious global photo exhibition showcases outstanding photojournalism, aiming to bring visual coverage of a range of important events to a global audience. It receives more than 4 million visitors from around the world every year.

“How The LGBTQ Minority Lives Is Not The Biggest Problem”

Given that the exhibition enjoys visits from tens of thousands of students, Hungarian youth will now be unable to view the collection, even those images that are free of LGBTQ+ content. Those under 18 will no longer be allowed in, even with parental consent.

Far-right Hungarian lawmaker Dora Duro originally filed a complaint with the country’s cultural ministry over a set of five photos in the exhibition by Filipino photojournalist Hannah Reyes Morales. Duro rejected claims that the government’s move limited freedom of the press.

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The photographs, which document a community of elderly LGBTQ+ people in the Philippines who have shared a home for decades and cared for each other as they age, depict some community members dressed in drag and wearing makeup.

The lawmaker said she was outraged when she visited the exhibition. “How the LGBTQ minority lives is not the biggest problem in the world,” Associated Press quoted her as saying. “This exhibition is clearly harmful to minors and, I think, to adults too.”

Coverage On Ukraine War “More Serious And Shocking”

Reyes Morales said: “I’m … saddened that their story is being kept in a shadow,” calling limited visibility for the LGBTQ+ community harmful. The photographer said the subjects serve as “icons and role models” to the minority community in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Tamas Revesz, a former World Press Photo jury member who has been the organiser of Hungary’s exhibitions for decades, said a number of photographs in the exhibition, including the coverage of the Ukraine war, are relatively “more serious and shocking”.