I took part in the first Pride March of my life on Saturday. As always before any first time, I imagined what it was going to be like, passing my imaginary ball between the possible and desired outcomes. And what was it like at the end? Better than I could have expected.
A bigger and bigger crowd of people was assembling on Kossuth square to see the concert of Antonia Vai and so did the qLit team as well. We listened to the opening speeches at 4 p.m. and shortly after the trucks’ engines were turned on, music started to play and the rainbow march took off. All I could see were smiling faces, banners and flags up in the air and bodies covered with tattoos, drawings and captions.
We walked from Alkotmány street through the Chainbridge to the Várkert Bazaar dancing, singing, loving each other. There were only a few barriers on the way and except of some ten counter-protesters, we only received kind waving from the people in the windows and on the street . It was an unbelieveable experience. Quite a few companies represented themselves in the march, there were families with children and dogs, lesbian, gay and trans couples, friends, associations and organizations - this is what made the rainbow colorful for me. Arriving to Várkert Bazaar it was heartwarming to see that the end of the marching crowd was still in Pest.
This year the march was bigger than ever.
After it ended, a lot of people stayed there sitting in the grass and on benches. As we headed home, on Ferenciek tere somebody shouted at us “these are all faggots as well!” to sober us up from the happiness and remind us that we were still in Hungary.
According to tradition, the closing event of the Pride week was the Rainbow Party in Dürer Kert. There was a long queue at the entrance and a huge crowds inside that didn’t seem to get much smaller even when the morning approached. There were lines of people at the bars where we had to wait half an hour for a drink and the waiting time in the bathrooms was similar. This disrupted the experience the party gave us: but the happiness and liberation from the afternoon was still apparent among us.
And what did I get from the first Pride of my life?
Revitalization. Few cordons. A lot of love. And real people.
Here you can browse through our pictures of the march:
Translated by Ibolya Nagy
Photos by Katt Kati Kovács
