On 19 March, Prime Minister Viktor Orban banned Hungary’s annual pride march, voted in just one day after the bill was submitted. Orban declared that it violated Act LXXIX of 2021, commonly known as the Propaganda Law. The Propaganda Law prohibits “the depiction and promotion” of “diverse gender identities and sexual orientations” in media, public education and advertisement. This is because it “portrays divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality” to minors.
Orban took to X (formerly Twitter): “We won’t let woke ideology endanger our kids”, hiding his intentions of complete censorship under the guise of child protection. By claiming that pride breaks the propaganda law, Orban aligns the LGBTQ community with paedophiles, increasing stigmatisation and entrenching discrimination.
Following the creation of the Propaganda Law in 2021, the European Commission has initiated an infringement procedure against Hungary, using Article 7 to ensure Hungary’s compliance with EU values. Hungary’s Pride ban appears to intensify restrictions on the rights of freedom of expression, assembly, and protest, directly opposing the values of the European Convention on Human Rights. In retaliation against the government, protesters had blocked off Budapest’s Margaret Bridge with flares.
To reinforce this ban, Orban warned protesters that those who continue to attend will be identified with facial recognition technology and may be fined up to 500 euros. Serhat Ozturk, legal officer of UK-based nonprofit Privacy International, underlined the flaws of this process suggesting that “facial recognition technology [tends] to misidentify people, particularly those from minority groups”. This opens space for even further discrimination, which Orban seems indifferent to following Parliament’s recent legislative action in December 2020, which abolished the Equal Treatment Authority.
Orban’s policies have consistently undermined LGBTQ rights. In 2020, the government-aligned media labelled the Labrisz Lesbian Association as a ‘paedophile organisation’ following the publication of their book A Fairytale For Everyone. Following this, in 2023, authorities restricted the display of LGBTQ content across mainstream media sources.
Pride conflicts with the ruling right-wing Fidesz party’s ‘traditional family values‘, which ensure their “nation’s survival”. Firstly, Article L of the Fundamental Law (the nation’s constitution) defines marriage as “the union of a man and a woman established by a voluntary decision”, excluding same-sex couples. This was echoed by the defining of ‘family’ as an “economic community, based on the marriage of a man and a woman”, which, consequently, limits homosexuals’ ability to adopt or obtain family ideals without children. In June 2020, the Omnibus Act stipulated that only married couples could adopt unless single persons received permission from the Minister of Family Affairs.
Aside from family values, amidst international distraction following Covid-19 scares in May 2020, the Hungarian parliament refuses to recognise intersex or transgender persons. This was achieved by removing the category ‘nem‘ which refers to sex and gender, collapsing them into ‘sex at birth’. The Registry Procedure Act 17 prohibits any amendment from the initially recorded status. Following this, on 10 November 2020, the Minister of Justice reformed the Fundamental Law, stating, “The mother is a woman; the father is a man”.
Hungary has increasingly been removing human rights and allowing further discrimination against LGBTQ communities. This curbs rulings by the European Court of Human Rights, which marks gender identity as a characteristic protected by the right to respect for private and family life. Hungary has also begun to diverge politically from the EU. On March 15, 2024, Orban announced, “If we want to defend Hungary’s freedom and sovereignty, we have no other choice but to occupy Brussels”, during the annual celebration of democratic independence from the Habsburg Empire.
The ban of Budapest Pride sits within Orban’s plan to centralise conservative control, mimicking Trump’s approach in America, highlighted by his “Make Hungary Great Again” propaganda and Russian-orientated views on the Ukraine war. It will be interesting to see how the EU challenges Hungary’s illiberalism, particularly with their intensification of restricting human rights.
