Budapest, Hungary-the LGBTQ+ Hungary community is preparing for a confrontation with the country’s autocratic government, and plans to advance with a march in the capital on Saturday despite a prohibition of the government and threats of legal repercussions.
Prime Minister’s populist party, Viktor Orbán, in March, accelerated a law through Parliament that let it be a crime to celebrate or attend events that “represent or promote” homosexuality to children under 18. Orbán used to make it clear that Budapest’s pride, which marked his 30th anniversary this year, was the expensive objective of the law.
But on Friday, the organizers of the pride together with the mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karáross, the European commissioned Hadja Lahbib and the vice president of the European Parliament, Nicolae Stefanuta, said that the march will take place on Saturday despite the official threats of strong fines by the participants and even the time of the prison for the Liberal Mayor.
They expect the march to be the greatest pride event in Hungary.
“The Government is always fighting an enemy against which they have to protect Hungarian peoples … This time, sexual minorities are the goal,” Karáscany told a press conference. “We believe that there should be no first and second class citizens, so we decided to support this event.”
A repression against LGBTQ+ rights
Critics of the prohibition of pride and other Hungarian legislation aimed at LGBTQ+ communities say policies remind of similar restrictions against sexual minorities in Russia.
The recent Hungary Law allows authorities to use facial recognition tools to identify people who attend a forbidden event. Being trapped could result in fines of up to 200,000 Hungarian Forints ($ 586).
Orbán, seen as the closest ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the European Union, has prohibited same -sex adoption in recent years and has banned any LGBTQ+content, including television, movies, ads and literature that is available for minors.
His government argues that exposure to this content negatively affects children’s development. But opponents say that movements are part of a broader effort for scapegoat of sexual minorities and consolidate their conservative base.
Fines and facial recognition
After the Police rejected several requests from the organizers to register the progress of pride, citing the recent law, Karáross joined the organizers and declared that it will be carried out as a separate municipal event, something that said it does not require the approval of the police.
But the Hungarian government has remained firm, insisting that celebrating the progress of pride, even if it is sponsored by the city, it would be illegal. In a video on Facebook this week, the Minister of Justice of Hungary, Bence Tuzson, warned Karáross to organize pride or encourage people to attend is punishable with up to one year in prison.
At the press conference on Friday, Karáross sought to dissipate fears that the Police would impose strong fines on pride attendees.
“The police have only one task tomorrow: guarantee the safety of those gathered in the event,” he said.
Speaking to the state radio on Friday, Orbán said that attending pride “will have legal consequences, but cannot reach the level of physical abuse.”
“The police could disperse such events, they have the right to do so. But Hungary is a civilized country,” he said.
Right-headed counter
On Thursday, the radical party on the right, our movement of the country announced that it had requested the approval of the Police to hold assemblies in numerous places in the city, many of them on the same route as the Pride March.
Later, a neo -Nazi group said it would also meet on Saturday at the Budapest City Council, from which the progress will leave. The group declared that only “white men and women, Christians, heterosexuals” were welcome to attend their manifestation.
European officials respond
The prohibition of Hungary’s pride has caused a violent reaction of many of the country’s partners and allies. More than 30 foreign embassies signed a joint statement this week expressing their commitment to “the rights of each person to equal treatment and non -discrimination, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, published on Wednesday on the social platform X, asking the Hungarian authorities to allow the pride that proceeds “without fear of any criminal or administrative sanction against the organizers or participants.”
It is expected that more than 70 members of the European Parliament, as well as other European countries, participate in the departure of Saturday.
Lahbib, the European commissioner, said Friday that “all eyes are in Budapest” as pride protesters challenge government prohibition.
“The EU is not neutral in hate,” he said. “We cannot remain liabilities. We cannot tolerate what is intolerable.”
