Time.news – More than ten thousand Hungarians joined the Gay Pride parade in the center of Budapest; and Budapest Pride this year was more of a protest than a parade, a protest against Fidesz’s anti-LGBTQI law, the party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The law, originally designed to increase penalties for pedophile crimes, had the support of all the opposition until, a few days before the vote, Fidesz added to the text a ban on speaking to minors about homosexuality in schools. or in the media. The law has aroused criticism both in Hungary and abroad, so much so that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called it “shameful”
. Last week the european union has opened a procedure against hungary for discrimination against the LGTB community. But the law is just another in a long series of attacks on LGBT rights in Hungary by Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party, who also wanted to ban civil unions and ban the adoption of the law. same sex. Viktor Orban’s government, which will face difficult elections next year and which has put the issue of migration on the back burner, believes that some social policies aim to safeguard traditional Christian values and has promised to hold a referendum on reform.
The protest started at 2pm and thousands of queer Hungarians marched through the streets of Budapest along with their supporters, ordinary people, but also diplomats and MEPs from the rest of Europe, waving Pride flags and hoisting signs. “All of Europe looks at what is happening in Hungary,” noted Terry Reintke, co-chair of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT + Rights, before the demonstrators gathered in the central square. of Madách, from where the demonstrators moved towards the Tabán Park.
“We are here against hate and the derives from the rule of law and the authoritarian wave“, continued the MEP. A colorful and cheering crowd – joined by opposition politicians, actors, musicians, athletes and other well-known figures of the Hungarian society – crossed the center of Budapest and then crossed the Danube on the Szabadság bridge. More than 40 embassies and cultural institutions issued a statement in support of the march: “We encourage the steps of every country to ensure the equality and dignity of all human beings regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity” .
At least they have been organized two counter-protests compared to Budapest Pride, but tiny compared to the march itself. Several far-right organizations, such as the Nostra Patria movement and the Alfa Federation, called the events against the march, but only a few dozen extremists participated, whom the police isolated to avoid possible clashes and accidents. At one of the rallies, a handful of protesters gathered under posters reading “Hetero Pride Budapest”.
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