Over 30,000 people marched in Budapest Pride on Saturday and protested Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, according to local media.
Ambassadors from various countries attended the event, including US Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman. Pressman emphasized the United States’ support for the march, stating that the US “will always march alongside those standing up for human dignity, fighting to advance freedom.”
The US Embassy to Hungary was one of 44 embassies and cultural institutions to sign a statement supporting the festival earlier this week. The signatories emphasized their support for members of the LGBTQ+ community “and their rights to equality and non-discrimination, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and freedom from violence.”
The signatories stated:
Respect for the rule of law and universal human rights are the foundations upon which democratic states are built … [W]e are seriously concerned with the recent application of legislation and political rhetoric, including in Hungary, that is in tension with principles of non-discrimination, international human rights law and human dignity, and contributes to the stigmatization of the LGBTQI+ community.
In 2021, Hungary passed a law that prohibited education and media portraying homosexuality or gender reassignment from being displayed to children. Proponents claimed the law was enacted to protect children from pedophilia, but the law has received widespread backlash from human rights groups, LGBTQ+ rights advocates and international organizations. Amnesty International expressed concern that the law infringed upon various human rights enshrined in international law, including the rights to freedom of expression, equality, non-discrimination and education.
The government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, however, has consistently defended the law and has continued to promote anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. The government, for instance, fined a bookseller last year for violating the 2021 law by displaying an LGBTQ+ novel in its youth section without closed wrapping.
In 2020, the Hungarian Parliament also passed Article 33, which amended the category of “sex” on the civil registry to “sex assigned at birth” and functionally prohibited transgender and intersex people from legally changing their gender. The same year, Hungary effectively banned legal adoption by same-sex couples.
Individuals around the world have advocated for LGBTQ+ protections during the past month, with countries hosting events to celebrate Pride Month and push back against anti-LGBTQ+ policies. In Thailand, Prime Minister Sretta Thavisin joined thousands of people at a Pride celebration and vowed to support the country’s marriage equality bill. Over 150,000 people also attended Seoul’s Pride festival, despite authorities denying the festival its venue.
