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Hungarian police stated on June 19 that they would ban the upcoming Pride march in Budapest, despite opposition from the city’s mayor.
Tens of thousands of people from Hungary and abroad are expected to attend the annual event on June 28.
According to an English translation of a police statement signed by Budapest Police Chief Tamas Terdik, the parade is banned because it likely can’t be held without “displaying homosexuality, sex/gender transition, or trans-persons via speech or symbols, potentially amid participants including minors.”
Hungary’s parliament, in which Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz Party holds a large majority, passed legislation in March that created a legal basis for police to ban LGBT marches, citing the need to protect children.
The legislation also allows police to use facial recognition technology to identify people who attend.
The measure has been criticized by the European Union. A document prepared to help members of the European Parliament with their work states that the law restricts “freedom of assembly, by connecting it to a previous controversial law from 2021 which prohibited the public portrayal to children of ‘divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality.’”
Ambassadors of 22 countries, including Australia, France, Germany, Spain, and the UK, also expressed concern about the measure, saying in March that it places “restrictions on the right of peaceful assembly and the freedom of expression,” according to a statement from the European Parliament.
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony has repeatedly criticized the law. On June 16, he said the Pride march would be a municipal event, meaning that “no permits from authorities are needed.”
“In this city, there are no first- or second-class citizens. In this city, we know that we can only be free together,” he said. “So in this city, neither freedom nor love can be banned, and the Budapest Pride cannot be banned either.”
Budapest police stated that the law still applied to the event organized by the mayor.
In a statement posted to social media on June 19, Karacsony said the police ban has no relevance, as authorities were not officially notified of the plans for the event.
“They might as well try to ban a procession of unicorns,” the mayor wrote.
He noted that the Budapest city hall “will hold the Budapest Pride Freedom Celebration as a municipal event. Period.”
Hungary’s parliament has passed multiple laws in recent years that it says are aimed at bolstering child safety, including in 2021, when it banned access to content that promotes “so-called ‘divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality' for individuals under 18,” according to the European Commission.
In April, lawmakers approved constitutional changes stipulating that Hungary recognises only two sexes, male and female.
