“No one else has ever managed to mobilise such a large crowd for a demonstration against himself by inciting hatred”
BY LARA IQBAL GILLING, IMAGE BY GETTY
Hungary’s right-wing party, Fidesz, outlawed Pride parades in March, under the guise of “protecting” children. Its leader, Viktor Orbán, has been prime minister since 2010. According to the European Parliament, he leads a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy”.
The ban would use facial recognition software to identify Pride attendees and fine them and organisers 200,000 forints each, the equivalent of £425.
The president of Pride, Viktória Radványi, estimated that up to 200,000 people attended Budapest Pride on 28 June, defying Orbán’s ban. She told AFP. “It is hard to estimate because there have never been so many people at Budapest Pride.”
It ended up being the largest Pride parade in the country’s history, far exceeding the expected number of 35,000-40,000 people. Many marchers expressed that they attended in order to show disapproval of Orbán’s policies towards the LGBTQIA+ community.
The prime minister’s political rival, Péter Magyar, dubbed Orbán “the king of Pride in Europe” in a Facebook post, adding: “No one else has ever managed to mobilise such a large crowd for a demonstration against himself by inciting hatred.”
The mayor of Budapest also supported the protest, which marked the 30th year of Pride in the capital. Gergely Karácsony said, as reported The Guardian: “We believe there should be no first and second class citizens, so we decided to stand by this event.” He authorised the march as a municipal event, in order to legally bypass the police approval of the ban.
However, Hungary’s justice minister, Bence Tuzson, published a video to social media telling the mayor that encouraging attendance at a banned event could result in up to a year in prison.
The ban was able to pass through Parliament so quickly because Orbán linked it to a 2021 law which prevents children from seeing public displays of homosexuality.
Hungary forbids dialogue about diverse sexualities and genders in schools, media, bookshops, family interactions and adverts. In response to the 2019 Coca-Cola advert which showed gay couples and anti-discrimination statements like “zero sugar, zero prejudice”, some Fidesz members initiated a boycott of the company’s products.
The associated law links gay and trans identities to paedophilia, a move which was criticised by 17 member states of the European Union. It was passed by 157 votes to one. Some opposition politicians boycotted the vote, but Fidesz has a majority in Hungary’s parliament regardless.
Orbán and his party oppose gay marriage, which remains illegal in Hungary. There is no legal recognition of trans identities or protection against identity-based discrimination in the country either.
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