By 
Elisabedi Koridze
Mick de Paola, July 11th, 2019
200,000 people gathered and marched together in the Budapest Pride Parade after Orban banned it.
In March 2025, the nationalist-populist party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban adopted a new anti-LGBTQIA+ law that aimed to ban Pride events and also allowed authorities to use facial recognition software to identify everyone who was attending the Pride parade or other events related to it.
According to the new law, holding or attending events that violate Hungary’s “child protection” legislation, which prohibits “promotion” of homosexuality to minors under 18, including in television, films, advertisements, and literature, is an offence, and anyone who attends this kind of event will get fined up to 200,000 Hungarian Forints. After the law was passed, thousands of protesters gathered together and blocked the city’s largest bridge. Pride events are something that attracts thousands of people every single year in different European cities to celebrate the history of the LGBTQIA+ movement and claim the equal rights of the community. After the adoption of Orban’s new law, one of the spokespersons of the Budapest Pride said that they had received huge support and a lot of people were going to attend this year’s Pride Parade in Budapest.
In recent weeks, the organisers of Pride events requested the police to register the Pride march, but the police rejected their request on every occasion, even after the mayor joined with organisers, the government still stated that the Pride march would be unlawful. Neither this nor the surveillance cameras were enough to stop tens of thousands of Hungarians, foreign visitors, and also the MEPs from taking part in the Pride event. Despite all this resistance from the government, 200,000 people marched for LGBTQIA+ rights in Budapest while defying a government ban and police orders.
The march began at the Budapest City Hall, and the participants went through the city centre before they crossed the capital’s Erzsebet Bridge over the Danube River. They were waving rainbow flags and different posters saying:
“Freedom and love can not be banned.”
“None of us are free until everyone is free.”
Thousands of people gathered and marched together on Budapest Pride 2025, not only to protect the rights of sexual minorities but to protect the democratic future of their country.
Sources and further readings:
Hungarian parliament adopts law banning Budapest Pride
Protesters in Hungary block roads, bridges in opposition to a new law banning LGBTQ+ Pride events
Hungary’s new anti-LGBTQ+ law bans Pride events and sparks protests
Monday briefing: How Budapest Pride became a huge show of anti-Orban defiance
Budapest Pride 2025: A record crowd stands up for democracy
Hungary bans LGBT Pride events
Big crowds gather in the Hungarian capital ot defy the ban on Budapest Pride
Tens of thousands in Hungary defy ban to march at Budapest Pride
Major turnout as Budapest Pride defies Orban’s ban in Hungary
Budapest Pride draws huge crowds in defiance of Orban legal threats
