Budapest Pride protests against restrictive LGBTQ law – DW

LGBTQ people and their supporters marched through the streets of the Hungarian capital Budapest on Saturday, using the annual Pride event to vent their anger at the implementation of a law restricting the rights of sexual minorities in the country.

Pride organizer Jojo Majercsik said the controversial child protection law, which came into force in 2021, is increasingly being used to impose fines and other penalties on those who disseminate LGBTQ content in Hungary.

“You can now see how the propaganda law that was passed two years ago is being implemented in practice and how the public discourse has become angrier,” Majercsik said.

Ahead of Friday’s march, some 38 embassies, including those of the US and Germany, issued a joint statement calling on Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government to stop discriminatory laws and protect the rights of the minority community.

Many diplomats took part in the march, including the US ambassador to the country.

“Anti-Propaganda” Law

The European Commission took Hungary to the European Court of Justice late last year to overturn the law restricting access to information on LGBTQ issues

Still, Orban’s government, which prides itself on promoting the Christian conservative agenda and family values, has pushed ahead with its implementation.

Earlier this week, a national bookseller was fined about $36,000 for displaying a popular LGBTQ graphic novel, Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper, in its youth section without the sealed packaging required by law.

Even TV advertising for the Pride march faced restrictions due to the law.

Considered unsuitable for viewers under the age of 18, the Hungarian media authorities banned their broadcast except between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Most broadcasters did not take the risk of broadcasting at all.

“It’s obvious now how they’re trying to restrict the rights of LGBTQ people in the media world, in the world of movies, movies and books,” Majercsik said.

Hungary’s LGBTQ community will come under even more pressure

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What else happened at the Pride march?

The participants of the march waved rainbow flags, danced and cheered and walked the streets of Budapest.

“The Pride movement should be the pioneer of freedom of expression, acceptance and equality,” said Gergely Varga, a protester and makeup artist in his 30s.

“But unfortunately I have to say that pride in being gay is not as accepted in Hungary as it is in the West.”

Participants in the march waved rainbow flags, danced and cheered, and walked the streets of Budapest. Image: Marton Monus/dpa/picture Alliance

David Vig, director of Amnesty International Hungary, said that unlike some countries in Western Europe and North America, where Pride events are celebrations of LGBTQ history and culture, Budapest Pride is a way to speak out against the increasing oppression of the rights of the community to protest.

“Unlike pride marches in happier countries around the world, this is truly a human rights demonstration,” he said.

rmt/lo (AP, Portal)