Member of the European Parliament Jozsef Szajer gives a speech to launch the campaign of the right-wing Fidesz ruling party ahead of the European Parliament elections on April 5, 2019 in Budapest. (PETER KOHALMI/AFP via Getty)
The organiser of a gay sex party that broke COVID restrictions, attended by anti-LGBT+ Hungarian MEP Jozsef Szajer, has insisted that the group of men did nothing wrong.
Szajer, a top official and one of the founders of Viktor Orbán’s anti-LGBT+ Fidesz party, resigned over the weekend after he was arrested for breaching coronavirus restrictions at the gay sex party.
The party was held on Friday (27 November), and was busted by police who burst in to find a group of naked men.
The MEP, who drafted Hungary’s new homophobic constitution defining “the institution of marriage as between a man and a woman” as “the basis of the family and national survival”, was spotted climbing out of a window and fleeing down the street.
Szajer did not produce identification for the police, but was identified after declaring he was an MEP and trying to invoke diplomatic immunity.
Now, the organiser of the orgy has come forward and insisted that they did nothing wrong, despite Belgian coronavirus restrictions limiting close contact to one other person.
According to The Independent, 29-year-old doctoral student David Manzheley said of Szajer’s arrest: “I didn’t know this man. I didn’t know he was an MEP. At my parties I invite friends and they bring other friends.”
Recalling the police bursting in, he said: “All of a sudden, the police were in my living room shouting, ‘Identity cards! Immediately!’
“But we didn’t even have any underwear on. How could we show our ID cards? That made the cops even more angry. They were very mean and said horrible things about gay people.”
Manzheley said he had created a rule to supposedly make the gay sex party safe – everyone in attendance had to have already contracted COVID-19.
He continued: “To be honest, I don’t see the problem. There were two nurses there, and they didn’t think it was dangerous either.”
“We talk, we have a drink – just like at the cafe,” he added. “The only difference is that in the meantime, we’re having sex with each other. I don’t see what’s wrong with that. We’re all adults, everything is by mutual consent.”
On Tuesday (1 December), Jozsef Szajer apologised for breaking COVID restrictions, although he did not admit that he had attended a sex party.
He said: “I am sorry that I broke the rules of assembly, this was irresponsible on my part, and I will take the sanctions that come with it.”
The fine for breaking coronavirus restrictions is €250 (£224).