BUDAPEST – Beneath a blaze of rainbow flags and amid roars of defiance, large crowds gathered in Hungary’s capital on Saturday for Budapest’s 30th annual Pride march—an event that this year serves both as a celebration and a protest.
Marching through the city in sweltering heat, demonstrators carried signs reading “Solidarity with Budapest Pride” and waved placards featuring crossed-out images of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Music blared from portable speakers as people of all ages joined the march—families with pushchairs, teenagers draped in rainbow capes, and older residents walking alongside activists.
From the city’s historic center to its riverside streets, the procession grew in both size and energy, visibly reclaiming public space in open defiance of a controversial law aimed at restricting LGBTQ+ events. The march went ahead despite a police ban imposed earlier this year under sweeping new legislation that prohibits LGBTQ+ events across Hungary.
Eszter Rein Bodi, one of the many who took part, told Reuters: “This is about much more than just homosexuality. This is the last moment to stand up for our rights.” Another participant, Krisztina Aranyi, said: “The right to assembly is a basic human right, and I don’t think it should be banned.”
She added, “Just because someone doesn’t like the reason you go out into the street—or doesn’t agree with it—you still have the right to do so.”
Thousands turned out for the parade, many holding homemade banners high. One read, “Transgender people are a blessing on this Earth,” while another declared, “Proud. United. Equal in every corner of the EU.”
At least 70 members of the European Parliament were expected to join the procession, officials told CNN in May. Dutch MEP Kim van Sparrentak, a member of the Greens/European Free Alliance group, told CNN she would be attending to “support the LGBTIQ+ community in Hungary, to let them know they are not alone, and to be visible as a community.”
“Pride is a protest,” she said. “And if Orbán can ban Budapest Pride without consequences, then every Pride is one election away from being banned.”
In March, Hungarian lawmakers passed legislation barring Pride events and authorizing the use of facial recognition technology to identify participants—measures that campaigners argue are illegal and part of a broader crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community. (CNN)
