Joumana El Zein Khoury, executive director of World Press Photo, says she is “shocked” by the Hungarian government’s decision to fire the director of the National Museum in Budapest over a photo show featuring LGBTQ+ people.
According to the BBC, museum director Laszlo Simon was fired for allowing visitors under 18 to view work by photographer Hannah Reyes Morales entitled “Home for the Golden Gays.” The project documents the residents of a community-run nursing home for LGBTQ+ residents in Manila. World Press Photo, a non-profit foundation based in Amsterdam, oversees the exhibition and also organizes an annual photography competition.
“The Golden Gays are a community of older LGBTQ+ people from the Philippines who have lived together for decades, sharing a home, caring for each other as they age, and putting on shows and beauty pageants to make ends meet,” the organization said in a statement World Press Photo website says.
El Zein Khoury tells The Art Newspaper: “I was shocked when I heard about this decision. There is nothing explicit or offensive in these images. This photo series is a thoughtful and honest record of the lives of a community of older LGBTQI+ people in the Philippines. I encourage everyone to visit our website to see the story and draw their own conclusions.”
The controversy was sparked last month when the far-right Mi Hazank (Our Home) party launched an investigation into the exhibition, citing a 2021 law that bans the “depiction and promotion of homosexuality” in books and films are accessible to under 18s. The museum then placed a warning on its website and at the exhibition entrance.
However, the Hungarian government, led by right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban, fired Laszlo Simon on November 6, saying he had violated the aforementioned law. In fact, Simon was a member of Orban’s Fidesz government from 2010 to 2021. During this time he was appointed, among other things, President of the Committee of the Hungarian Cultural Fund and State Secretary for Culture in the Ministry of Personnel. After less than a year he was fired from the latter position.
In a statement about the latest dismissal, Hungarian Culture Minister János Csák said that Simon “failed to comply with the institution’s legal obligations… and engaged in behavior that made his continued employment unviable.”
Simon says the museum nevertheless responded to previous instructions from the ministry and told minors they would not be allowed to view the photos. In a statement posted on Facebook, Simon said: “I acknowledge this [censorship] decision, but I can’t accept it. As a father of four and a grandparent, I strongly reject the idea that our children should be protected from me or the institution I run.”