Pride March held in Budapest
The poet and translator Orsolya Karafiath told the crowd it was “tiring” to always have to speak about struggle, hurt and exclusion. She criticised the government for making every effort to make homophobic voices heard.
Under the motto “Take Back Your Future”, participants danced to music from parade trucks. The Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party came with its own truck. A rainbow-coloured banner of the Democratic Coalition also appeared in the crowd.
Staff of diplomatic missions in Hungary marched behind a “Diplomats for pride” banner. David Pressman, the United States ambassador to Hungary, as well as Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony were among the demonstrators.
The parade path was not cordoned off.
A few counter-demonstrators appeared near Heroes’ Square, carrying signs that read “Sin cannot be a matter of pride”, “Stop LGBTQ pedophilia” and “In Hungary, marriage is a union between 1 man and 1 woman, get used to it”.
CitizenGo, a conservative international lobbying group based in Madrid, also held a counter-demonstration near the parade route, holding up signs and banners reading “The silent majority is proud of their country” and “Protect our children from LGBTQ sensitization, brainwashing”.
Bela Teleki, who was in charge of the CitizenGo counter-demonstration, told MTI that the silent majority in Hungary were proud of their country and their families. CitizenGo wants to prevent LGBTQ ideology from infiltrating families and corrupting society, he added.