In his annual “State of the Nation” address yesterday, Viktor Orbán sent a message to the organisers of Budapest Pride: planning this year’s parade was ‘a waste of money and time’. Budapest Pride’s statement is published without changes:
“We will not let Hungary’s largest regular human rights demonstration be banned!
We are already organising the 30th Budapest Pride March, and perhaps never before has it been as important as it is now.
Even the current Fundamental Law of Hungary – which in many instances curtails fundamental rights – strictly protects freedom of assembly and freedom of expression.
The true measure of a country’s freedom isn’t whether people can express opinions that support the government—it’s whether those who challenge it can speak without fear. For years, LGBTQ people have faced attacks from those in power. Events like Pride marches reveal whether the government respects free expression or uses its authority to silence those it disagrees with.
It’s nothing more than political theater—the ruling party is using the LGBTQ community for its own gain. But we refuse to be anyone’s scapegoat. Those who organize Pride events in Hungary or stand up for their communities in any way are dedicated, determined citizens who want to build a better country. Threatening these patriotic people in the name of patriotism is not just hypocritical—it’s disgraceful.
While more and more people are starving in Hungary, the Prime Minister’s priority is to ban human rights protests. At a time when people’s daily livelihoods are under threat, when families cannot heat their homes or buy their children coats, when the end-of-month argument is about whether there is money for lunch or electricity bills, the government’s task should be to solve these problems, not to think about how to further restrict the Hungarian people’s freedoms.
The slogan of this year’s Budapest Pride Festival and March is “We are (home).” There have been countless attempts to silence, make invisible, intimidate or outright erase members of the LGBTQ community in history. The forces of oppression have never succeeded. The existence of the LGBTQ community is as old as humanity: we have been here longer and will be here much longer than those politicians in suits campaigning for exclusion.
They’ve tried countless times to ban our march—and failed. They won’t succeed now either. In the end, Pride is a demonstration, whether with twenty people or tens of thousands, but it will happen. We’re not just fighting for the Budapest Pride March or the LGBTQ community—we’re fighting for the right of all Hungarians to protest, speak their minds, and stand up for themselves.”
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