Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government is attempting to ban the Budapest Pride March from taking place in the city’s streets, citing “child protection” as the reason.
Despite these attempts, Budapest Pride will be celebrating its 30th anniversary with a full March this year.
The news comes after days of speculation about what Orbán meant when he said in a recent speech that he would advise the organisers of the LGBTQ+ march “not to bother preparing their march for this year” as “it would be a waste of time and money.”
“There will be no Pride in the public form in which we have known it in recent decades,” Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of Orbán’s office, clarified on Thursday, February 27. “We believe that the country should not tolerate Pride marching through the city centre.”
Gulyás said at the press conference that banning the LGBTQ+ march would be line with a proposed constitutional amendment stating that “the right of children to physical, mental and moral development is irrevocable.
Asked whether banning the parade would mean curtailing the basic right to freedom of expression, Gulyás said Hungary’s move “wouldn’t mean a deprivation of rights.”
Responding to a question about why he claims that Pride marches are harmful to children, Gulyás said, “it’s common sense.”
“A family man doesn’t usually go near Pride, he avoids that part of the city,” the minister said.
Gay marriage is not recognised in Hungary and Orban’s government has redefined marriage as the union between one man and one woman in the constitution, and limited gay adoption.
