Hungary’s ruling party submitted a bill to parliament on Monday that would ban the Pride march by LGBTQ+ communities and impose fines on organizers and people attending the event which Budapest has held for three decades.
Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who faces an unprecedented challenge from the center-right Tisza–a surging new opposition party, has criticized the LGBTQ+ community and pledged to crack down on foreign funding of independent media, opposition politicians and NGOs in Hungary in recent weeks, stepping up his campaign ahead of elections due early next year.
The Hungarian supermajority government, led by Orbán’s Fidesz party, presents itself as a staunch defender of traditional family values and Christian civilization, claiming its policies shield children from “sexual propaganda” and “gender madness.”
Orbán has scaled up his attacks on the media and the LGBTQ+ community since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The bill submitted by his Fidesz party would ban the pride march on the grounds that it could be considered harmful to children.
“The proposed bill amends the law governing the right of assembly by stipulating that it is banned to hold an assembly that violates the ban set out in the law on the protection of children,” the legislation says.
It also says police can use face recognition cameras to identify people who attend the event in which participants march down Andrassy Avenue, a wide street in Budapest’s city center.
The Hungarian supermajority government, led by Orbán’s Fidesz party, presents itself as a staunch defender of traditional family values and Christian civilization, claiming its policies shield children from “sexual propaganda” and “gender madness.”
Orbán has scaled up his attacks on the media and the LGBTQ+ community since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The bill submitted by his Fidesz party would ban the pride march on the grounds that it could be considered harmful to children.
“The proposed bill amends the law governing the right of assembly by stipulating that it is banned to hold an assembly that violates the ban set out in the law on the protection of children,” the legislation says.
It also says police can use face recognition cameras to identify people who attend the event in which participants march down Andrassy Avenue, a wide street in Budapest’s city center.
Anyone identified at the march would face a 200,000 Forint (€502) fine, which according to the legislation would go toward “child protection.”
Orbán has said that Budapest Pride should not even bother to organize the march this year. Festival organizers, who say it poses no threat to children, responded by saying that freedom of assembly was a constitutional right.
“Despite the proposed amendment to the law, we plan to hold Budapest Pride,” the organizers told Reuters, adding that there was a bigger need than ever for the march, and that they would not be silenced.
Budapest’s liberal mayor Gergely Karácsony said in a Facebook post that the pride march will be held this year and “it may even be bigger than ever.”
Orbán, in power since 2010, promotes a Christian-conservative agenda and in 2021 banned what it calls the “promotion of homosexuality” among under-18s despite strong criticism from rights groups and the European Union.
The European Commission referred Hungary to the EU Court of Justice in 2022 over the 2021 law.
Orbán has said that Budapest Pride should not even bother to organize the march this year. Festival organizers, who say it poses no threat to children, responded by saying that freedom of assembly was a constitutional right.
“Despite the proposed amendment to the law, we plan to hold Budapest Pride,” the organizers told Reuters, adding that there was a bigger need than ever for the march, and that they would not be silenced.
Budapest’s liberal mayor Gergely Karácsony said in a Facebook post that the pride march will be held this year and “it may even be bigger than ever.”
Orbán, in power since 2010, promotes a Christian-conservative agenda and in 2021 banned what it calls the “promotion of homosexuality” among under-18s despite strong criticism from rights groups and the European Union.
The European Commission referred Hungary to the EU Court of Justice in 2022 over the 2021 law.
