'Desecration' of the gravestone of Karoly Kertbeny, inventor of word 'homosexuality'

Alert DateJuly 5, 2010 Country: Hungary Address: Budapest General Type: Discrimination Racism and discrimination phenomena: Homophobia
Groups affected / Interested in: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Victims Data
Victims Nationality/Ethnic Origin N/A
Victims Gender N/A
Victims Age N/A
Victims Number N/A
Fatalities - deaths N/A
Perpetrators Data
Perpetrators Nationality/Ethnic Origin N/A
Perpetrator Gender N/A
Perpetrator Age N/A
Perpetrators Number N/A
Extremist/Organised Group Violence No

About a week after the Gay Pride (July 2010), a group of extremists announced on their website, using hate speech, that they ‘desecrated’ the gravestone of Károly Kertbeny[1]. (The extremists covered the memorial with a black sack and attached a quote from the Bible saying that men having sexual relations with men have to die.) Rainbow Mission Foundation (the organiser of the LGBT Festival) reported it to the police, but the police refused to investigate the case. [2]

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[1] Károly Kertbeny was a 19th century Hungarian writer who invented the words ‘homosexuality’ and ‘heterosexuality’. A gravestone was erected for him in 2002 by the LGBT community, and it is visited every year by participants of the LGBT Festival.

[2] ‘Neonácik meggyalázták Kertbeny Károly síremlékét’ [Neo-Nazi group desecrates Károly Kertbeny's grave], pride.hu, 26.07.2010, available at: http://pride.hu/article.php?sid=3043 (Date of access: 20.02.2012); Hanzli, P (2010) ‘Meggyalázták Kertbeny síremlékét’, in: Frissmeleg 25.07.2010, available at: http://www.frissmeleg.hu/2010-07-25/meggyalaztak_kertbeny_siremleket (Date of access: 20.02.2012); Jakab, I (2010) ‘Nem nyomoz a rendőrség!’, in: Frissmeleg 11.08.2010, available at: http://www.frissmeleg.hu/2010-08-11/nem_nyomoz_a_rendorseg (Date of access: 20.02.2012).