TonOn Saturday, Ossend Hungarians participated in the Pride Parade in Budapest. The organizer’s spokesperson and Agence France-Presse news agency Johanna Majercsik said that this was the largest number of participants since the first March 26 years ago. An AFP reporter estimated that the number of protesters exceeded 10,000. Given the criticized LGBTQ laws and the Prime Minister’s “anti-gay propaganda” Victor Orban Majercsik said that many people want to express “their support for the LGBTQ community.”
Dozens of diplomats from the diplomatic mission of the Hungarian capital also participated in the colorful parade held on the streets of Budapest. In the past few years, this incident has been massively disrupted by right-wing extremists. Homophobic abuse has been registered this year and there are no other incidents. The police separated approximately 200 supporters of the right-wing conservative head of government Victor Orban from the march participants.
The LGBTQ law banning “advertising” for gays and transgender people came into effect approximately two weeks ago. Now, books on this subject must be labeled “No children under 18” in Hungary, and LGBTQ-related movies are no longer allowed during prime time.
The official goal of the law is to protect minors. On the other hand, activists talked about the crackdown on the LGBTQ community. The acronym LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer; critics in Hungary believe that members of these sexual minorities are discriminated against.
The European Union initiated an infringement lawsuit against Budapest against LGBTQ laws. European Commission President Ursula von der Lein stated that Europe will never allow “discrimination in certain parts of our society”.
