Hungarian Govt Bans Budapest Pride Parade ‘In Public’

In 1997, Hungary was the first country in the former Eastern Bloc where a Pride march was held, marking the country’s pioneering role in LGBTQ+ rights. Now Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wants Hungary to be the first EU country to ban Pride in public. Hungary’s government declared today that the Budapest Pride Parade “will not take place in a public form” this year. The announcement was made by Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s office today.

Hungary’s government said today that Budapest Pride, the LGBTQ+ parade, “will not take place in a public form” this year.

[image or embed] — POLITICO Europe (@politico.eu) February 27, 2025 at 4:43 AM

From Politico:

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said last weekend that he would advise the organizers of the LGBTQ+ march “not to bother preparing their march for this year” as “it would be a waste of time and money.”

“There will be no Pride in the public form in which we have known it in recent decades,” Gulyás said at the government’s weekly press conference. “We believe that the country should not tolerate Pride marching through the city center.”

Gulyás said at the press conference that banning the LGBTQ+ march is in line with a proposed constitutional amendment stating that “the right of children to physical, mental and moral development is irrevocable,” although he couldn’t clarify why organizing Budapest Pride would violate such a right.

Asked why he claims that Pride marches are harmful to children, Gulyás said, “It’s common sense – a family man doesn’t usually go near Pride, he avoids that part of the city.” Budapest Pride says plans for the parade are already underway pledging that the annual event, which draws thousands of participants, would proceed. Legal experts say the government would have to pass a new “child protection” law to gay legal authority to ban the event from public view.

Budapest Pride should be held in closed venue for ‘child protection’, says government official https://t.co/5nA255l3HT

— Shirley Jenkins (@YourHoodLawyer) February 26, 2025