Dozens of European politicians vow to attend Budapest Pride despite ban on LGBTQ

[Lori Dee]

Dozens of European politicians vow to attend Budapest Pride despite ban on LGBTQ gatherings in Hungary
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CNN - Catherine Nicholls, CNN
Published 12:55 PM EDT, Thu May 29, 2025

At least 70 members of the European Parliament are planning on attending this year's Pride celebrations in Budapest, Hungary, despite the nation's ban against LGBTQ gatherings, officials have told CNN.

Earlier this year, Hungarian lawmakers passed new legislation which outlaws Pride events in the country and allows authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify those attending any events that go ahead despite the ban.

But officials from at least six groups of the European Parliament are planning on attending Budapest's annual Pride march anyway, according to a spokesperson for Kim van Sparrentak, the co-president of the European Union's Intergroup.

The Intergroup describes itself as an "informal forum for Members of the European Parliament (MEPS) who wish to advance and protect the fundamental rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people."

Budapest Pride has remained determined in the face of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government, which has previously said it is outlawing the parade and other LGBTQ gatherings in the country due to "child protection" issues.

Organizers have vowed to hold the event anyway, and have called on "international allies, activists, and friends" to join the Pride parade though Hungary's capital on June 28.

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[Lori Dee]

UPDATE: Hungary's Top Court Strikes Down Police Ban on LGBTQ Gathering
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Bloomberg - Zoltan Simon
June 1, 2025 at 1:44 AM MDT

Hungary's top court struck down a police ban of a pro-LGBTQ gathering in Budapest, in a test of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's escalating culture war before elections next year.

Police failed to adequately justify why a constitutional amendment approved in April — which Orban had said would create legal grounds for banning LGBTQ-themed events in public — applied to one planned for Sunday, the court, known as the Kuria, wrote in a ruling. It was the first time authorities had tried to use the legislation for this purpose.

"It wasn't possible to ascertain what special circumstance necessitated the banning of the gathering when two weeks ago a gathering of a similar nature was allowed to go ahead and wasn't deemed unconstitutional," justices wrote in their ruling published on Saturday.

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