US EditionBudapest Pride Defies Ban as European Politicians Rally Against Hungary’s Crackdown
- On June 28-29, 2025, tens of thousands marched in Budapest during a Pride event that defied a government ban and turned into an anti-Orbán protest.
- The banned parade followed a March law by Orbán's Fidesz party that criminalized Pride marches, citing child protection and equating homosexuality with paedophilia.
- Budapest's mayor Gergely Karácsony circumvented the ban by registering the event as a city council 'Day of Freedom,' while European politicians, including over 70 MEPs, joined to support the march.
- Organizers estimated 180,000 to 200,000 attendees, many carrying rainbow flags and caricatures of Orbán, while Orbán called the event 'disgusting,' accusing Brussels of imposing the parade.
- The demonstration highlighted deep national and European divisions over LGBTQ+ rights ahead of April 2026 elections and raised concerns about legal reprisals using newly empowered police technology.
18 Articles
18 Articles
Anti-LGBTQ+ Hungarian PM named 'king of Budapest pride'
Right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been named the ‘king of Pride’ after the country saw its largest–ever parade in Budapest in response to his anti-LGBTQ+ ban on the event. The right-wing Fidesz party, which has seen Viktor Orbán as the European country’s Prime Minister since 2010, passed an anti-LGBTQ+ law banning Pride marches in Hungary in March this year on the grounds that the depiction of homosexuality was a threat to min…
Giant crowd at Pride in Budapest defies repressive new Hungarian law
Tens of thousands of Hungarians, including members of the LGBTQ+ community and their supporters from Brussels and around the world, marched in a Pride parade in Budapest on Saturday, defying efforts to ban the event by Prime Minister Viktor Orban,…
Budapest Pride defies ban as European politicians rally against Hungary’s crackdown
Budapest Pride went ahead on June 28 in defiance of a government ban, drawing the support of more than 70 members of the European Parliament and several prominent European ministers, who travelled to the Hungarian capital to back the event.
In the Hungarian capital Budapest, a record number of people participated in a Pride Parade. The police had originally banned the event and founded it with the "protection of children". Subsequently, the liberal mayor Karacsony had declared the parade to be the official celebration of the city. More than 70 MEPs as well as an EU Commissioner went along.
Up to 200,000 people have taken to the streets despite the ban in Budapest. The right-wing national government has an idiosyncratic interpretation for the background of the largest Pride parade in 30 years.
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- 44% of the sources lean Left, 44% of the sources are Center
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