In the fourth episode, we are coping with falling back to the ‘50s. The Freedom House has measured a steady decline in democracy and human rights since 2006. The USA is one of the countries that suffered the most significant decline between 2010 and 2020. Authoritarianism seems to be on the rise everywhere, and human rights are definitely under pressure. This does not concern abortion rights only, with the overturn of Roe v. Wade in the USA, but also LGTBQ+ rights.  

In this episode, we are joined by Dorottya Redai, a Hungarian academic at the Central European University Democracy Institute and LGTBQ+ activist part of the Labrisz Lesbian Association. In 2021 Dorottya was listed among the world’s 100 most influential people for her publication of ‘Fairyland is for Everyone’, an LGTBQ+ friendly book for children. The publication set a backlash in Hungary, ruled by anti-gay, anti-freedom of speech, and authoritarian rule of Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party. Soon after the book came out, a politician from a right-wing party made a video event in which she tore apart the book and put the pages in a paper shredder. That caused a tsunami of extreme negative reactions, one of which was the Hungarian parliament passing a law that restricted the promotion and access of LGTBQ+ materials to young people under 18. On the other hand, the book became soon a bestseller and has been published in 10 languages, becoming a symbol of the fight for LGTBQ+ rights.