©picture alliance / NurPhoto | Balint Szentgallay
Tens of thousands of people took part in Budapest Pride on Saturday, the first since the departure of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The parade crossed the Elizabeth Bridge over the Danube, among other places, and took place amid a scorching heat wave. According to an AFP journalist, turnout was lower than in 2025 but higher than in previous years, when approximately 35,000 people participated.
This year’s march took on added political significance. After all, last year more than 200,000 people took to the streets to protest the ban on Pride. That ban was part of Orbán’s long-standing policy against LGBT+ rights, which was defended, among other things, as “protection of children.” Following Orbán’s defeat in April, there is a sense of relief within the Hungarian LGBT+ community, although the discriminatory laws have not yet been repealed.
At a press conference, Belgian EU Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib also spoke, alongside Mayor Gergely Karácsony. Lahbib called the demonstration a sign of change. “The winds of change are blowing through this great nation,” she said. She pointed out that last year’s Pride made history and helped shape that history.
The new pro-European conservative, Peter Magyar, won the elections in April, bringing an end to sixteen years of Orbán’s rule. During the campaign, he remained conspicuously silent on LGBT+ rights, but afterward he stated that the government should not dictate how people should live their lives. Nevertheless, his government has not yet repealed Orbán’s anti-LGBT+ laws.
The police saw no reason to ban Pride, and the public prosecutor’s office dropped the charges against last year’s organizers. Furthermore, in late April, the European Court of Justice ruled that Hungary’s 2021 anti-LGBT+ law violates EU rules.
©picture alliance / NurPhoto | Balint Szentgallay