The Hungarian Parliament has passed a constitutional amendment to ban all LGBTQ+ community events, including Budapest Pride.
The amendment, led by populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, passed on Monday, April 14 with 140 votes for and 21 against.
Ahead of the vote – the final step for the amendment – opposition politicians and other protesters attempted to blockade the entrance to a parliament carpark. Police physically removed demonstrators, who had used zip ties to bind themselves together.
The amendment declares that children’s rights to moral, physical and spiritual development supersede any right other than the right to life, including that to peacefully assemble. Hungary’s contentious “child protection” legislation prohibits the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors.
The amendment codifies a law fast-tracked through parliament in March that bans public events held by LGBTQ+ communities, including the popular Pride event in Budapest that draws thousands annually.
That law also allows authorities to use facial recognition tools to identify people who attend prohibited events – such as Budapest Pride – and can come with hefty fines.
Dávid Bedo, a lawmaker with the opposition Momentum party who participated in the attempted blockade, said before the vote that Orbán and Fidesz – Orbán’s national-conservative political party – for the past 15 years “have been dismantling democracy and the rule of law, and in the past two or three months, we see that this process has been sped up.”
He said as elections approach in 2026 and Orbán’s party lags in the polls behind a popular new challenger from the opposition, “they will do everything in their power to stay in power.”
Critics say the measures do little to protect children and are being used to distract from more serious problems facing the country and mobilise Orbán’s right-wing base ahead of elections.
“This whole endeavour which we see launched by the government, it has nothing to do with children’s rights,” said Dánel Döbrentey, a lawyer with the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, calling it “pure propaganda.”
