Budapest Pride Carries on Despite Hungary’s LGBTQ+ Event Ban

The 30th annual Pride parade in Budapest will take place in spite of Hungary’s ban on LGBTQ+ events.

In 2021, the Hungarian Parliament voted on a “child-protection” law which prohibits the “depiction or promotion” of same-gender attraction to minors. This past April, an amendment was passed to ban LGBTQ+ events. Those who are found to have broken this law are subject to fines of up to 200,000 HUF, or $546 USD. The law also grants the government the right to use facial recognition technology in an effort to crack down on those who attend these events.  

The country’s current authoritarian government is headed by right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of the conservative Fidesz party, an ally of Donald Trump, particularly in the global attack on LGBTQ+ rights. In a move that mimics Trump’s executive order declaring that there are only two sexes, the Fidesz party also passed a separate amendment making the same declaration in Hungary. 

Budapest Pride will be an official protest of these amendments and is projected to draw a record number of attendees, as well as more than 70 members of the European Parliament. Budapest’s Mayor, Gergely Karácsony, will also be present.

Máté Hegedűs, the spokesperson for Budapest Pride, states that, “It is our constitutional right to gather peacefully, to be together, and to march for our human dignity and our fundamental rights. And that is what we will do on June 28, courageously, authentically, organizing our community.”

Britain, Germany, France, and 30 other countries have expressed their support for this protest; the United States has not.

“This fight is not only for the LGBTQ community, but for everyone,” Hegedűs continues. “Together with Budapest, we will defend ourselves and those who are now afraid, those who are now silent, those who are now in danger. Civil society, Hungarian citizens. We will be the voice, we will be the action, we will be the determination.”

The European Commission has previously suspended billions of dollars in aid to Hungary over human rights violations such as these, and support for those affected by the oppressive government continues to grow worldwide.

Photo Credit: Timi Keszthelyi