Thousands of demonstrators filled the streets of Budapest after Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok approved a law prohibiting LGBTQ Pride events and authorizing the use of facial recognition technology to monitor attendees.
“This law is a full-frontal attack on the LGBTI community and a blatant violation of Hungary’s obligations to prohibit discrimination and guarantee freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” Dávid Vig, director of Amnesty International Hungary, said in a statement.
According to Amnesty International, the law was introduced on March 17, rushed through Parliament without public consultation, and is set to take effect on April 15. Opposition lawmakers staged a dramatic protest in the legislature, releasing rainbow-colored smoke bombs, but the measure passed by a vote of 136 to 27.
“In targeting Budapest Pride, [Prime Minister Viktor] Orbán is both making a powerful statement about what kind of people he and his party think Hungarians (and all people) should be in terms of their gender and sexual expression, and making it much less possible for all Hungarians to express social and political dissent of any kind,” Hadley Renkin, a gender studies professor at Central European University, told Truthout.
The law amends Hungary’s Act on the Right of Assembly, criminalizing the organization of events and penalizing attendance at gatherings that violate the country’s “Propaganda Law,” which forbids the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors. LGBTQ advocates argue that far right politicians are exploiting concerns about minors’ safety as a pretext to target LGBTQ people.
“This is not child protection, this is fascism,” the Budapest Pride organizers said in a statement.
Under the law, people who participate in a banned Pride event could be identified by facial recognition software and face fines of up to 200,000 HUF (around 550 USD). Andrea Peto, gender studies professor at Central European University, explained to Truthout that this marks the first instance in which Hungary has approved facial recognition technology to track participants and impose fines.
Critics of the law warn that Hungary’s approach closely mirrors that of Russia, where in December 2022, President Vladimir Putin expanded the country’s ban on “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” to include adults, effectively criminalizing public support for LGBTQ rights.
“This isn’t a new form of power (or hate) at all, but it’s very clear that this kind of politics places the human body (and its gender, sexuality, race, class, etc.) and its surveillance and control at the center of the struggle for absolute power. And this is, in fact, one of — if not the most — iconic signs of true fascism,” Renkin said.
Renkin also highlighted how Trump’s recent attacks on civil liberties and transgender people in the U.S. may be emboldening far right leaders in Hungary and across the world. “Although this isn’t a surprise and was really pretty much expected, it’s clear that Orbán and people like him, and the anti-queer right wing not just in Hungary but throughout the world, has been greatly emboldened by Trump and everything he’s been doing,” Renkin told Truthout.
In response to the Pride ban, thousands of protesters gathered outside Hungary’s Parliament after the vote, chanting anti-government slogans. The demonstration later moved to the Margaret Bridge over the Danube River, where protesters blocked traffic and defied police orders to disperse.
“The attack on Pride is a nationalist, neo-conservative response to the crisis of the neoliberal global order, so it’s not just about LGBTQ people, it’s about everyone who is committed to human rights and democracy,” Peto told Truthout. “It is an attack on liberalism and therefore indirectly on democracy.”
Since returning to power in 2010, Orbán and his right-wing government has systematically eroded LGBTQ rights under its nationalist agenda. Early in his tenure, Hungary’s constitution was rewritten to consolidate power while restricting civil liberties. Marriage was defined strictly as “the union of a man and a woman,” excluding same-sex couples, and the definition of family was limited to heterosexual partnerships. In 2020, Hungary revoked legal recognition for transgender and intersex people, preventing them from changing their names or gender markers on official documents.
The following year, the government enacted a “propaganda law,” banning LGBTQ representation in educational materials and media accessible to minors. This led to censorship in schools, legal action against booksellers, and restrictions on LGBTQ content in television and media. Renkin notes that the Pride ban is an extension of this law and “is exactly what many of us feared when the media representation law was first passed — though the facial recognition provision is a new and frightening twist.”
Renkin and Peto told Truthout that this marks a dangerous escalation in Orbán’s attacks on civil liberties. “The right to assembly was changed and the parliament voted yesterday and the president approved today,” Peto emphasized. “The fact that the media is discussing Pride even [as] the Basic Law formerly known as Constitution is being amended to allow the introduction of ‘child protection’ for this ban is a good antiliberal political communication strategy.”
Despite the ban, Budapest Pride organizers have said that they plan to move forward with this year’s march on June 28.
“This law has a major impact on the LGBTQ people in Hungary and globally, as this is just the beginning,” Peto continued. “Hungary is a laboratory so if this law happens, the other countries will follow this example.”
“I think we should expect more of this, in Hungary and elsewhere,” Renkin added.
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