Thousands join Budapest Pride March in opposition to anti-LGBTQ+ laws – JURIST
More than 50,000 people took to the streets of Budapest Saturday to celebrate the annual Pride March, with many directly protesting against the government’s recently imposed anti-LGBTQ+ laws.
While government officials, led by conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, threatened legal consequences and strongly opposed the event, no arrests, fines, or violent dispersals by authorities have been reported.
The organizer, Budapest Pride, warned attendees, including heads of governments such as the Prime Minister of Belgium and members of the European Parliament, that fines up to $590 could be imposed. Nevertheless, organizers, with the approval of Budapest Mayor Gregely Karacsony, manifested their steadfast commitment to hosting the parade, emphasizing “the inalienable right of human dignity.”
After the event, on Sunday, the Mayor of Budapest, Gregely Karacsony, expressed his renewed rejection of the government’s stance by stating that:
I agree with the Prime Minister: yesterday showed what this country would look like if they weren’t the ones in power. Let me show you. A free, smiling, loving community where people care for one another, support each other, and stand in solidarity.
In March 2025, the Hungarian Parliament amended a series of laws, providing the government with a constitutional basis to “limit the rights of the LGBTQI community.” The stated purpose of the amendment aims to protect children by limiting the right of assembly, making it a “petty offense” to hold and attend assemblies “that depict or propagate divergence from self-identity corresponding to the sex at birth, sex change, or homosexuality.” Additionally, the law grants the government wide-reaching power to use facial recognition technology to identify suspect individuals.
The European Commission, alongside other member states, instituted proceedings in front of the European Court of Justice to challenge the nation’s initial anti-LGBTQ+ law introduced in 2021, with the Commission’s Advocate General strongly opposing it.
Hungary’s Supreme Court ruled in early June that a blanket ban on the Pride March is unlawful, as long as no legitimate goal is attached to it. Later that month, Bence Tuzson, Hungary’s Minister of Justice, declared in a letter to EU officials that the Supreme Court had prohibited the Pride parade, making it illegal. Further, Orbán stressed that “legal consequences” would be imposed on organizers.
Members of the Hungarian government, such as Zoltan Kovacs, the Secretary of State for International Communication, have expressed opposing views on the event, stating that it was organized “at Brussel’s command.” However, no legal action against organizers or attendees has yet been taken.
