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Washington Post
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Hungary Pride goes forward despite threat from repressive law
BUDAPEST — With the support of Budapest's liberal mayor, Hungary's LGBTQ+ community and supporters from Brussels and around the world were poised to hold Pride festivities this weekend, challenging an effort to ban the event by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a self-declared 'illiberal' Christian conservative whose Fidesz party pushed through draconian legislation in March banning public events that portray or allegedly promote homosexuality.
The Journal
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Journal
With fear and courage, Hungarians are refusing to let their government beat them down
IN THE BOOKSHOPS of Budapest, books that were easily available only a few years ago can no longer be openly found on the shelves. In police stations, authorities are preparing to use facial recognition software to identify and imprison organisers of the annual Pride parade. And in the homes of the city's LGBTQ+ community and their loved ones, people are anxiously watching as their government chips away at hard-fought-for human rights and democracy. Across the border – west to Romania, or north to Slovakia – more European Union citizens wonder if their country will be the next to ban Pride. Budapest Pride is marking its 30th anniversary this year. Organised Pride events started out small – a film festival; picnics on a mountain outside of the city – at a time when Hungary was only a few years out of the Soviet Union and most LGBTQ+ people weren't safe to let their identity be publicly known. The first march was in 1997, and the marches have continued each year since then (aside from 2020 on account of the pandemic). But this year, the Hungarian government wants to imprison its organisers. The Hungarian parliament buildings along the River Danube Lauren Boland / The Journal Lauren Boland / The Journal / The Journal Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has led the country for almost as long as Pride has existed there, serving from 1998 to 2002 and again from 2010 up to the present day. During that time, his party, Fidesz – which once occupied the same political grouping in the EU as Fine Gael – has moved further and further to the right. In 2021, the parliament passed legislation to restrict the visibility of LGBTQ+ content, embedding into law that only over-18s should be allowed to engage with information and media that pertains in some way to LGBTQ+ people. The law has had numerous ramifications. For one, it's meant that bookshops have had to take children's books with LGBTQ+ characters off the shelves or wrap them up in plastic. One of the country's bookshop chains, Líra Könyv, was fined $34,000 in 2023 for failing to wrap up 'Heartstopper', a popular book-turned-Netflix hit featuring a relationship between two teenage boys. A legal opinion for the EU Court of Justice said that by enacting the law, Hungary has violated the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights by interfering with rights to human dignity, to freedom of expression, and to protection from discrimination. The country has 'significantly deviated from the model of a constitutional democracy'. On top of the anti-LGBTQ+ law, Hungary passed legislation this year curtailing freedom of assembly and introduced sweeping new powers to prosecute participants and organisers of protests. The government layered those laws to justify a ban on the Pride parade that's scheduled to take place in Budapest today. Budapest's mayor, a left-wing politician, said he could get around the restrictions by taking over the event to host it on a municipal level. Nonetheless, police intend to enforce the ban, and it's expected that attendees identified as taking part could be fined up to €500, and organisers could face imprisonment of up to a year. It is a distressing time to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community in Hungary. But the government's mounting attacks, while repressive, have also emboldened many people to stand up for their rights and refuse to be pushed to the sidelines of society. A community centre in Budapest Lauren Boland / The Journal Lauren Boland / The Journal / The Journal Maja has been an event organiser at a community centre in Budapest for the last two years. The centre collaborates with several human rights campaigns and hosts music gigs, workshops, exhibitions, film nights and more. When The Journal visited, there were plenty of locals enjoying a warm summer's evening in the garden, and a poster-painting session inside to create banners for the Pride march. Advertisement The centre is due to have a tent at the end point of the Pride parade in what's known as the 'civil village'; a kind of fair where various groups and organisations set up stalls. 'Last year we had little bingo cards in the tent – the goal was to get people to talk to each other and to build community. We also had an exhibition about how it's important that Pride has to be about solidarity, and how it's more than just big corporations going out with the rainbow,' she said, referring to businesses that support Pride when it suits them but shy away when it doesn't. 'This was a big topic this year in Hungary. When they first talked about banning Pride, a lot of big corporations stayed very, very quiet. There were big corporations who went out to march when it was more accepted or 'trendy', but they are now really quiet and not trying to help the community.' Poster-making for Pride at the community centre Lauren Boland / The Journal Lauren Boland / The Journal / The Journal One of the biggest differences this year compared to others is the level of preparation that's gone in to organising and participating. 'This year we have to do a lot more preparation about what can you do in advance, what can you do there, what can you do after if they fine you for being there,' Maja said. 'There are different groups or blocks that march in the Pride, including a group that's in solidarity with Palestine, and that's also something that here that's banned – just marching with the Palestine flag. 'There's a lot of preparation for how to show what's important to you, how to show what you believe in, and how to march for your rights and your community and not a fine or get taken away by cops.' Maja expects that people who may not ordinarily attend Pride will turn out this year to support the community. 'My impression is that not just people who already belong to the community will march this year, but also a lot of others. Liberals who normally don't go to Pride because it's not that personal for them, but now, in this kind of political climate, there's a lot more people who will go.' Simon is from the UK and has lived in Budapest since 2016, where he worked for three years before retiring. He's always gone to the annual Pride parades but he thinks this one is going to be 'by far' the most important, and that it could be a tipping point for change. He has friends from other countries in Europe who are coming to the Budapest march to show solidarity, and expects, like Maja, that it's going to have a larger attendance than usual because of the volume of additional support. He said that while Pride in some other countries has become mostly a celebration, in Hungary, it's still fundamentally a protest because of the discrimination that the community faces. Simon said he's aware of the possibility that taking part could be dangerous and is a little concerned about the facial recognition software. He 'probably won't dress wildly flamboyant' the way he has at other Prides, but at the same time, he's 'not going to hide'. Simon said Pride in Budapest is still fundamentally a protest Lauren Boland / The Journal Lauren Boland / The Journal / The Journal Even as the government tries to marginalise Hungary's LGBTQ+ community, in Budapest, there are a number of local spots and events that pop up that bring people together. There's a popular restaurant and bar along the Danube where you can have a spot of brunch while watching a Drag Queen perform, or go along of an evening for a weekly Drag Queen-hosted bingo. Inside the restaurant one evening this week, a women from South America who moved to Hungary several years ago told The Journal that she's attended Pride each year since she arrived in Budapest but that she won't be going this year. Related Reads Irish politicians to attend Budapest Pride as Hungary threatens participants with fines Budapest mayor threatened with imprisonment as he defies police to host Pride parade It's too dangerous, she said, for people like her and her friends who could risk losing immigrant work visas. At a conference on Thursday organised by Budapest Pride, speakers warned that what's happening in Hungary is a warning bell for human rights and democracy around Europe. Asked to give a worst-case scenario forecast of where Europe could be in ten years, former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said a repeat of the 1930s is not beyond the realm of possibility – though he strongly hopes it won't come to that. German MEP Terry Reintke, the co-chair of the Greens/EFA political grouping, said during a panel discussion that 'the far-right is growing stronger'. 'They have a very aggressive agenda, and for me, this is about trying to keep the far-right in check – and that depends on how other democratic forces are going to react to this.' András Léderer of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a Budapest-based human rights monitor, said the Hungarian government's aim is to 'discourage individual citizens to dare to behave as individual citizens, to have an opinion, to go and meet with like-minded people and discuss those issues'. 'The political calculation in Hungary was that it can isolate and alienate people who dare to behave as citizens.' András Léderer of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee speaking at the Budapest Pride conference Lauren Boland / The Journal Lauren Boland / The Journal / The Journal Later that day, The Journal visited a Pride event being held by a small film club. It convened in an apartment-turned-community library nestled inside a winding maze of a shared building, with books lining the walls almost from floor to ceiling. Around sixteen film enthusiasts gathered to watch the items on the night's agenda. The theme was centred around marking two significant advancements internationally for LGBTQ+ rights a decade ago in 2015. One was the US Supreme Court's ruling to allow same-sex marriage; the other was Ireland making that same choice by referendum. In Hungary, same-sex marriage is prohibited by the country's constitution, which was enacted by Orbán's government in 2012. A film club in Budapest watched two campaign videos from the Yes side of Ireland's marriage equality referendum Lauren Boland / The Journal Lauren Boland / The Journal / The Journal The organisers gave a short presentation about Ireland, the marriage referendum, and this year's Dublin Pride. With Hungarian subtitles on the screen, they played two of the campaign videos that were shared in the lead-up to the vote by the Yes side. The first was the 'Can I have Sinead's hand?' ad where a man asks everyone he meets for permission to marry his girlfriend, the message being that no-one should have to ask tens of thousands of others for sign-off to marry whom they choose. The second was probably the most prominent ad that came out of the Yes campaign – the one where young adults ask their family members to come with them to vote. 'Mam, it's time.' 'Granny, do you need a lift to the polling station?' You know the one. In a dark library, in a city struggling to stand up for itself, it made for emotional viewing – a reminder of how tirelessly the LGBTQ+ community in Ireland had to fight for equal rights; of how little time, really, has passed since then; of how many people in the world are still fighting that battle, like the Hungarians who were there watching, waiting, wondering when it might be their turn to celebrate equality too. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Budapest Pride expected to be a rallying cry against Orbán's rollback of rights
Record numbers of people are expected to take part in Budapest Pride on Saturday, with Hungarians joining forces with campaigners and politicians from across Europe in a march that has become a potent symbol of pushback against the Hungarian government's steady rollback of rights. 'This weekend, all eyes are on Budapest,' Hadja Lahbib, the European commissioner for equality, told reporters in the Hungarian capital on Friday. 'This is bigger than one Pride celebration, one Pride march. It is about the right to be who you are, to love who you want, whether it is in Budapest, in Brussels or anywhere else.' The country's main Pride march was cast into doubt earlier this year after the country's ruling Fidesz party – led by the right-wing populist Viktor Orbán – backed legislation that created a legal basis for Pride to be banned, citing a widely criticised need to protect children. The government also said it would use facial recognition software to identify people attending any banned events, potentially fining them up to €500 (£425). The move caused outrage from within Hungary and beyond, turning Budapest Pride into a rallying cry against a government that has long faced criticism for weakening democratic institutions and gradually undermining the rule of law. Lahbib said the EU was standing alongside LGBTQ+ people. 'It is a core value to gather peacefully, to be who you are, to love who you want,' she said. 'These are the core values that generations before us have built, brick by brick, and we are not going to allow any kind of regression from one of our member states.' Organisers of Budapest Pride, which this year will mark its 30th anniversary, said the government was attempting to restrict peaceful protests by targeting them. 'This event was one of the important milestones of the LGBTQ community,' said its spokesperson, Máté Hegedüs. 'Our slogan this year is that we are at home. By this, we want to draw attention to the fact that LGBTQ people are an integral part of Hungarian society, just as any other people. In our history, in our culture, this is where we belong.' Hours before the march was due to begin, however, uncertainty loomed over how officials would react. While Orbán has said that those who attend or organise the march will face 'legal consequences', he said Hungary was a 'civilised country' and police would not 'break it up … It cannot reach the level of physical abuse'. Nicolae Ștefănuță, the vice-president of the European parliament, on Friday called on police to respect those attending. 'I would like to say that the police and institutions of the state have a duty to protect the citizens,' he said. 'It's as clear as possible.' The sentiment was echoed in a petition, signed by more than 120,000 people spanning 73 countries, that called on police to 'reject this unjust law' – believed to be the first of its kind in the EU's recent history – and ensure that the march proceeded 'unhindered and peacefully, free from discrimination, harassment, fear or violence'. Despite uncertainty, tens of thousands of Hungarians are expected to take part. Joining them will be politicians and rights campaigners from more than 30 countries, including Ireland's former taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Spain's minister of culture, Ernest Urtasun, more than 70 members of the European parliament, and the mayors of Brussels and Amsterdam. Several Irish politicians will be in attendance including Green Party TD Roderic O'Gorman, Fine Gael MEP Maria Walsh and Fianna Fáil MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurcú Picture: Leah Farrell/© The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, this week joined calls for Hungarian authorities to allow the event to go ahead. Orbán was swift to hit back, likening it to receiving orders from Moscow in communist times. 'She thinks she can dictate to Hungarians from Brussels how they should live,' he said in a radio interview. The widespread pushback, both domestic and international, had seemingly done little to dissuade the Hungarian government. This week, the country's justice minister, Bence Tuzson, appeared to warn embassy staff from attending the event. 'The legal situation is clear: the Pride parade is a legally banned assembly,' he said in a letter seen by the Guardian. 'Those who take part in an event prohibited by the authorities commit an infraction,' he said, adding that those organising or announcing the event faced up to a year in prison. The progressive mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, has said the gathering will instead go ahead as a municipal event, meaning it will not require official authorisation. The result was an 'extraordinary scenario', said Márta Pardavi of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights organisation. 'Currently, the legal situation is quite unclear – it is unclear whether this will be a demonstration that the police have banned or whether it will be some other type of event, as Mayor Karácsony has talked about.' The NGO has joined forces with two other organisations to produce a Q&A for the event, addressing concerns such as whether attenders risk being fired from their jobs and whether being fined could later jeopardise university entrance or foreign travel. The organisations have also promised to provide legal aid to any participants who are fined. Complicating matters were three countermarches planned on Saturday by groups with ties to the extreme right, said Pardavi. 'This means you will have a lot of people with very, very different views on the streets,' she said. Analysts have described the government's hardline stance against Pride as another move in its years-long rollback of LGBTQ+ rights. This time, however, it comes as Orbán faces an unprecedented challenge from a former member of the Fidesz party's elite, Péter Magyar, before next year's elections, leading organisers to suggest they are being scapegoated as Orbán scrambles to shore up support among conservative voters. Organisers of Budapest Pride, which this year will mark its 30th anniversary, said the government was attempting to restrict peaceful protests by targeting them. 'This event was one of the important milestones of the LGBTQ community,' said its spokesperson, Máté Hegedüs. The widespread view has led Hungarians from all walks of life – including many who have never marched before – to take part in Saturday's event. 'These are the actions of a government in the run-up to an election they fear they will lose, so they are trying to distract public attention from their deep corruption and unpopularity,' said Andrew Ryder, who is among a group of academics from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest who will be joining the march in solidarity. 'I am deeply concerned that my home, Hungary, is on a trajectory that will lead to fascism,' he said. 'However, the mood of the country is turning, and if Hungary can restore its democracy it could be a model for other countries trying to overcome authoritarianism.' Nearly 50 organisations from across Europe have meanwhile urged EU officials to launch an infringement procedure against Hungary, citing the possibility that real-time facial recognition would be used on attenders. If so, it would be a 'glaring violation' of the EU's recently adopted Artificial Intelligence Act, the letter noted. Hungarian officials have yet to release details on how the technology will be deployed. 'Hungary's use of facial recognition to surveil Pride events marks a worrying change in how new technologies can be used to suppress dissent and target marginalised communities,' the Civil Liberties Union for Europe, one of the signatories of the letter, said in a statement. It said it risked a 'dangerous precedent by normalising invasive monitoring of peaceful gatherings and undermining civil liberties'. - The Guardian
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- Climate
- The Guardian
Record numbers expected at Budapest Pride march despite attempts to ban it
Update: Date: 2025-06-28T07:20:58.000Z Title: Budapest Pride expected to be a rallying cry against Orbán's rollback of rights Content: Good morning and welcome to the Europe live blog. My name is Tom Ambrose and I'll be bringing you all the latest news lines. We start with news that record numbers of people are expected to take part in Budapest Pride on Saturday. Hungarians will join forces with campaigners and politicians from across Europe in the march that has become a potent symbol of pushback against the Hungarian government's steady rollback of rights. 'This weekend, all eyes are on Budapest,' Hadja Lahbib, the European commissioner for equality, told reporters in the Hungarian capital on Friday. 'This is bigger than one Pride celebration, one Pride march. It is about the right to be who you are, to love who you want, whether it is in Budapest, in Brussels or anywhere else.' The country's main Pride march was cast into doubt earlier this year after the country's ruling Fidesz party – led by the rightwing populist Viktor Orbán – backed legislation that created a legal basis for Pride to be banned, citing a widely criticised need to protect children. The government also said it would use facial recognition software to identify people attending any banned events, potentially fining them up to €500 (£425). The move caused outrage from within Hungary and beyond, turning Budapest Pride into a rallying cry against a government that has long faced criticism for weakening democratic institutions and gradually undermining the rule of law. Read the full story here: In other developments: Severe weather warnings have been issued across southern Europe, including in Italy, Spain and Portugal, with temperatures expected to get close to or locally even above 40C this weekend, prompting concerns about health hazards and wildfires (14:32). Expected temperatures on early Saturday afternoon: Madrid 38C, Thessaloníki 38C, Florence 38C, Rome 37C, Lisbon 36C, Tirana 36C, Athens 35C. It will be hot in Paris (32C) and still warm in London and Berlin 28C, and in Brussels 27C. European leaders failed to agree on the latest, 18th, package of sanctions at last night's European Council meeting in Brussels, with Hungary and Slovakia holding firm in their opposition to the proposed measures. But it's worth noting that the EU has agreed on rolling over the already existing sanctions against Russia, which were due to expire. In Germany, lawmakers agreed to suspend family reunification rights for refugees without asylum status as conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz's government pursues a crackdown on immigration. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Estonia's stated intention to let Nato allies' nuclear-capable aircraft use its territory was a direct threat to Moscow.
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Budapest Pride expected to be a rallying cry against Orbán's rollback of rights
Record numbers of people are expected to take part in Budapest Pride on Saturday, with Hungarians joining forces with campaigners and politicians from across Europe in a march that has become a potent symbol of pushback against the Hungarian government's steady rollback of rights. 'This weekend, all eyes are on Budapest,' Hadja Lahbib, the European commissioner for equality, told reporters in the Hungarian capital on Friday. 'This is bigger than one Pride celebration, one Pride march. It is about the right to be who you are, to love who you want, whether it is in Budapest, in Brussels or anywhere else.' The country's main Pride march was cast into doubt earlier this year after the country's ruling Fidesz party – led by the rightwing populist Viktor Orbán – backed legislation that created a legal basis for Pride to be banned, citing a widely criticised need to protect children. The government also said it would use facial recognition software to identify people attending any banned events, potentially fining them up to €500 (£425). The move caused outrage from within Hungary and beyond, turning Budapest Pride into a rallying cry against a government that has long faced criticism for weakening democratic institutions and gradually undermining the rule of law. Lahbib said the EU was standing alongside LGBTQ+ people. 'It is a core value to gather peacefully, to be who you are, to love who you want,' she said. 'These are the core values that generations before us have built, brick by brick, and we are not going to allow any kind of regression from one of our member states.' Organisers of Budapest Pride, which this year will mark its 30th anniversary, said the government was attempting to restrict peaceful protests by targeting them. 'This event was one of the important milestones of the LGBTQ community,' said its spokesperson Máté Hegedüs. 'Our slogan this year is that we are at home. By this, we want to draw attention to the fact that LGBTQ people are an integral part of Hungarian society, just as any other people. In our history, in our culture, this is where we belong.' Hours before the march was due to begin, however, uncertainty loomed over how officials would react. While Orbán has said that those who attend or organise the march will face 'legal consequences', he said Hungary was a 'civilised country' and police would not 'break it up … It cannot reach the level of physical abuse'. Nicolae Ștefănuță, the vice-president of the European parliament, on Friday called on police to respect those attending. 'I would like to say that the police and institutions of the state have a duty to protect the citizens,' he said. 'It's as clear as possible.' The sentiment was echoed in a petition, signed by more than 120,000 people spanning 73 countries, that called on police to 'reject this unjust law' – believed to be the first of its kind in the EU's recent history – and ensure that the march proceeded 'unhindered and peacefully, free from discrimination, harassment, fear or violence'. Despite uncertainty, tens of thousands of Hungarians are expected to take part. Joining them will be politicians and rights campaigners from more than 30 countries, including Ireland's former taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Spain's minister of culture, Ernest Urtasun, more than 70 members of the European parliament, and the mayors of Brussels and Amsterdam. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, this week joined calls for Hungarian authorities to allow the event to go ahead. Orbán was swift to hit back, likening it to receiving orders from Moscow in communist times. 'She thinks she can dictate to Hungarians from Brussels how they should live,' he said in a radio interview. The widespread pushback, both domestic and international, had seemingly done little to dissuade the Hungarian government. This week, the country's justice minister, Bence Tuzson, appeared to warn embassy staff from attending the event. 'The legal situation is clear: the Pride parade is a legally banned assembly,' he said in a letter seen by the Guardian. 'Those who take part in an event prohibited by the authorities commit an infraction,' he said, adding that those organising or announcing the event faced up to a year in prison. The progressive mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, has said the gathering will instead go ahead as a municipal event, meaning it will not require official authorisation. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion The result was an 'extraordinary scenario', said Márta Pardavi of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a human rights organisation. 'Currently the legal situation is quite unclear – it is unclear whether this will be a demonstration that the police have banned or whether it will be some other type of event, as Mayor Karácsony has talked about.' The NGO has joined forces with two other organisations to produce a Q&A for the event, addressing concerns such as whether attenders risk being fired from their jobs and whether being fined could later jeopardise university entrance or foreign travel. The organisations have also promised to provide legal aid to any participants who are fined. Complicating matters were three countermarches planned on Saturday by groups with ties to the extreme right, said Pardavi. 'This means you will have a lot of people with very, very different views on the streets,' she said. Analysts have described the government's hardline stance against Pride as another move in its years-long rollback of LGBTQ+ rights. This time, however, it comes as Orbán faces an unprecedented challenge from a former member of the Fidesz party's elite, Péter Magyar, before next year's elections, leading organisers to suggest they are being scapegoated as Orbán scrambles to shore up support among conservative voters. The widespread view has led Hungarians from all walks of life – including many who have never marched before – to take part in Saturday's event. 'These are the actions of a government in the run-up to an election they fear they will lose, so they are trying to distract public attention from their deep corruption and unpopularity,' said Andrew Ryder, who is among a group of academics from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest who will be joining the march in solidarity. 'I am deeply concerned that my home, Hungary, is on a trajectory that will lead to fascism,' he said. 'However, the mood of the country is turning and if Hungary can restore its democracy it could be a model for other countries trying to overcome authoritarianism.' Nearly 50 organisations from across Europe have meanwhile urged EU officials to launch an infringement procedure against Hungary, citing the possibility that real-time facial recognition would be used on attenders. If so, it would be a 'glaring violation' of the EU's recently adopted Artificial Intelligence Act, the letter noted. Hungarian officials have yet to release details on how the technology will be deployed. 'Hungary's use of facial recognition to surveil Pride events marks a worrying change in how new technologies can be used to suppress dissent and target marginalised communities,' the Civil Liberties Union for Europe, one of the signatories of the letter, said in a statement. It said it risked a 'dangerous precedent by normalising invasive monitoring of peaceful gatherings and undermining civil liberties'.
