The new ideological Iron Curtain descends on football

Wednesday's Germany-Hungary football in Munich was a kind of turning point. Not because what was happening outside the game disrupted the idea of a traditionally friendly relationship between the two nations, even though the mass whistling and humming while the Hungarian anthem was playing would have been unthinkable 15 or 20 years ago. The turning point and unprecedented in Europe over the last decades is the extent to which the interstate football match has been misused for ideology.

The Germans didn't care that they were arrogant and that they were bad hosts. The main thing was to "send a signal", to serve as a symbol" - in this case against homophobia and transphobia. The Allianz Arena, lit in rainbow colors, was supposed to disgrace Hungarian guests, especiallyvViktor Orbán, who was originally supposed to attend the match.

Fortunately, UEFA did not allow the mayor of Munich to make such a gesture, but before the match, the German media parade of politicians, public figures, athletes, and large corporations who portrayed the UEFA's deescalation move as a capitulation to evil and dictatorship. The affair continued yesterday at the EU summit, where, according to German correspondents, Chancellor Angela Merkel refused to shake hands with Orbán.

What this is about, and what another German, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, called a "disgrace", is an amendment to the norm tightening pedophilia rates. The norm has two main points, both considering children and adolescents under the age of 18: that they will not be served homosexual and transgender topics and content at school and in textbooks, and that films in which LGBT plays a central role will need to be certified, i.e. that they will not be broadcast before 10 in the evening. Given how many teenagers probably bother watching television anymore, it is clear that the key sticking point is with the schools and textbooks.

The whole conflict is about the sexual education of minors, which, as Orbán points out, should be decided by their parents. It is unbelievable that the European Commission and most member state governments do not hesitate to talk down to another member state regarding such matters. And that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte dares to threaten Hungary to "get it on its knees", and if Orbán does not repeal the law, his country must be cut off from EU membership. Attempts to influence children at a sensitive stage of their development is something that even in our "accepting" times most parents will not tolerate — at least in countries where freedom of speech is still the norm.