Hungarian police have recommended to prosecutors that Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony be charged for supporting the Budapest Pride march earlier this year, after the event was officially banned by the government.
On 28 June, up to several hundred thousand people took to the streets in Budapest, defying government efforts to halt Pride commemorations across the country.
Pride ban rushed through Parliament
In March, the Hungarian Parliament rushed through legislation banning Pride marches under the pretext of “protecting” children. The law also allows authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify, track and fine participants.
Mayor Karácsony bypassed the ban by declaring Budapest Pride an official municipal event, a move that allowed organisers to proceed without seeking police permission.
According to ILGA-Europe, if charged and convicted, Karácsony could face up to one year in prison for organising and encouraging participation in a banned march.
Mayor remains defiant
Despite the threat of prosecution, Karácsony has remained defiant. In a video statement, he said: “The system has reached a breaking point where it can no longer tolerate the fact that there are still free people in Hungary and there are still free local governments in Hungary, so I am actually proud of this indictment.”
He added: “I am proud that I took every political risk for the sake of my city’s freedom, and I stand proudly before the court to defend my own freedom and the freedom of my city.”
EU urged to intervene
ILGA-Europe’s Advocacy Director, Katrin Hugendubel, has called on European Union institutions to act “to ensure that the right to peaceful assembly is protected in Hungary for everyone, including LGBTI communities and those who stand with them.”
It previously emerged that Géza Buzás-Hábel, organiser of another Pride event held in the Hungarian city of Pécs on 4 October, also faces possible charges under the same legislation.
Speaking at a press briefing last week, Buzás-Hábel said: “If we accept the ban, we accept oppression. We stop fighting for equality. This is not only about the LGBTI community. It is about the future of Hungary in the European Union.”
He warned that attempts to suppress LGBTQ+ rights pose a broader threat to democracy: “People understand that what is happening to me can happen to anyone the government decides it does not like.”
A pattern of anti-LGBTIQ+ laws
This is not the first time Hungary’s populist right-wing government has clashed with the European Union over its treatment of LGBTIQ+ people. In 2021, the European Commission launched infringement proceedings against Hungary over its so-called “anti-LGBTIQ propaganda law”, a case that remains pending before the European Court of Justice.
In 2020, Hungary banned transgender and intersex people from legally changing their gender or sex assigned at birth, a move widely condemned by human rights organisations.
