Volt at Budapest Pride 2025

In March of this year, the Hungarian parliament adopted a law prohibiting public events that do not comply with Section 6/A of Hungary’s Child Protection Act, known colloquially as ‘the Propaganda Law’. This section outlaws any depiction of “divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change, or homosexuality” at public events.

As a consequence, Budapest’s annual Pride parade – a celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community –  was cancelled. Despite challenges to the ban, both by Hungary’s Supreme Court (e.g Kgyk.IV.39.065/2025/6) and by the European Institutions, on 19 June, the city’s police confirmed that Budapest Pride would not take place.

For Volt, queer rights, and human rights more generally, are not political toys for populists to play with, especially when infringement of these rights has such profound consequences on young people. And that is why, last Saturday, Volters stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the queer community, Hungarian social activists and civil society organisations to show that Pride is, indeed, a protest.

Pride is a fundamental human feeling, whether for a hometown, accomplishments or a political movement. But for the LGBTQIA+ community, Pride is much more. It is a moment to celebrate who you are, who you love and the freedom to share that with your community. The annual Pride celebrations in cities and towns all over Europe are held to celebrate this freedom and protest against restricting it.

The Budapest Pride ban is an authoritarian test case

In Hungary (and many other countries in Europe) the rights and freedoms of queer communities  are under increasing pressure from conservative and populist forces. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, together with his Fidesz party, are using queer communities as a scapegoat for domestic problems, accusing them of corrupting young Hungarians and even of paedophilia. 

The 2021 ‘Propaganda Law’, which prevents discussions and portrayals of LGBTQIA+ people in schools and in the media, has ‘created a cloud of fear’ for queer people and limited young people’s access to vital information about sexuality and sexual identity. Section 6/A expands this restriction to public events, and requires law enforcement to disperse any such gatherings and impose fines on participants. 

But there is more to this. Orbán is using queer events as a pretext to ban any public assembly that does not suit him, potentially far beyond just Pride. This is a test case not only for Hungary but for all of Europe. What happens in Budapest is being closely watched, for example in Bratislava and by future far-right governments across the continent.

Defying the ban

In the days leading up to Pride, Budapest’s Green Party Mayor, Gergely Karácsony, decided that the city would hold a ‘Day of Freedom’ organised at the municipal level, a workaround that would enable queer communities to attend and celebrate their ‘freedom’.

Preparations for the event were challenging as it was uncertain whether it could even be held and what the reaction of the government, police and far right groups would be. But the Volt Hungary team did an excellent job in organising and facilitating our participation. Ultimately, the Volt delegation, including Francesca Romana D'Antuono (Co-President Volt Europa), Volt MEPs Anna Strolenberg and Kai Tegethoff, Dutch Parliamentarian Laurens Dassens, and members from Volt Chapters all over Europe (including from Albania, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain) joined 68 other MEPs and other officials to let Victor Orbán know that banning Pride anywhere in the EU is unacceptable. They had meetings with local organisations and politicians about the current situation in Hungary and shared Volt’s very popular alpaca coasters (which were almost snatched out of our hands). Talking about the difficulties of the Hungarian people and queer communities was eye-opening. For someone used to Prides in other European countries, which are usually jubilant events, the scene felt quite unfamiliar. 

Among the gathered crowd were a few individuals who clearly didn’t have good intentions toward the Pride parade. There was, for example, a group of what appeared to be Christian fundamentalists, led by a man carrying an oversized, homemade, wooden cross. They loudly proclaimed that we were all destined for hell –  presumably after having double-checked with the authorities down there. There were also people dressed in Trump outfits and other curious characters. But it didn’t take long before even these folks realised that they were hopelessly outnumbered and before long they quietly disappeared.  Far-right protesters, who tried to block the parade, were pinned to one side by the sheer volume of marchers, making them easy for the police to contain. 

Overall, the police did a good job of keeping the counter-protesters at a distance and protecting us from attacks. It was a peaceful event from start to finish, and none of us experienced any violence. 

The decision to march across the Elisabeth Bridge was a spontaneous one, the famous attraction not having been on the planned route. But the photographs that adorned Europe’s Sunday papers of hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters, drenched in the colours of the rainbow, were a glorious symbol of resistance in the face of authoritarianism.

The turnout was estimated to have been between  180,000 and 200,000. This massive outpouring of support was the biggest demonstration since  the fall of communism and shows what happens when you try to ban Pride.

We are so proud to have been part of this protest and hope it will empower the queer emancipation movement in Hungary. Through Volt Hungary we will keep supporting Hungary’s LGBTQIA+ community and Hungarians in general. 

Do you want to be a part of turning the authoritarian tide? Join a Pride in your region to show your support, check out Volt’s policies on queer rights, and follow Volt Hungary on social media!

Tom van Doesburg, Co-Lead of QueerVolt Europa, who attended the 2025 Budapest Pride march.

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