Hungary bans LGBT Pride marches sparking protests

Hungary has passed a law banning Pride marches held by the LGBTQ+ community, sparking outrage in and out of the country.

Parliament voted for the measure just a day after the bill was submitted on Monday, in a process fast-tracked by the ruling right-wing Fidesz party under Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Orban praised the legislation, which bans the event on alleged grounds it is harmful to children, saying: “We won’t let woke ideology endanger our kids.”

Pride marches had been held for the past 30 years in Hungary. Opposition lawmakers lit flares during the voting session on Tuesday, while demonstrators blocked a bridge in central Budapest. Human rights groups have also condemned the move.

It is the latest measure from Orban’s government targeting Hungary’s LGBTQ+ community.

In 2020, the country abolished its legal recognition of transgender people, and in 2021, politicians passed a law banning the depiction of homosexuality to under-18s.

Under the terms of the new law, it is now “forbidden to hold an assembly in violation” of that 2021 legislation.

Anyone who does faces fines of up to 500 euros ($545; £420). That could include attendees and march organisers. Police are also allowed to use facial recognition technology to identify possible offenders.

MPs also amended Hungary’s right of assembly in parliament on Tuesday.

The law now says that only events “respecting the right of children to proper physical, mental and moral development” may take place.

Opponents of Hungary’s Pride marches, and of the country’s LGBTQ+ community in general, have regularly, and without evidence, accused such demonstrations of being dangerous for minors.

Protesters outside the parliament on Tuesday chanted:”Assembly is a fundamental right”. They blocked off central Budapest’s Margaret Bridge while staring down a police cordon.

The EU’s equality commissioner Hadja Lahbib condemned the move. “Everyone should be able to be who they are, live & love freely,” she wrote on X.

“The right to gather peacefully is a fundamental right to be championed across the European Union. We stand with the LGBTQI community – in Hungary & in all Member States.”

The organisers of Budapest Pride criticised the decision on social media. “This is not child protection, this is fascism,” they wrote.

“A democratic leader would never think of restricting the fundamental rights of those who disagree with him.”

Organisers vowed to continue to hold their planned 30th Pride march in Budapest on 28 June.

In recent months Orban has launched increasing attacks on his critics and announced plans for more conservative law changes, vowing last year to “occupy Brussels” to protect Hungary’s freedom.

His Fidesz party has been in office since 2010. But polls suggest that the new centre-right party Tisza is in the lead nationally ahead of next year’s parliamentary election.

Tisza, which wants a more constructive relationship with the EU, shot up in popularity after Peter Magyar, a one-time Fidesz politician, broke with the ruling party in February 2024 over what he said was its poor running of Hungary.