In 2021, Hungary created a law which banned the promotion of homosexuality and transgender identities to children under the age of 18. Based on this law, on March 18, 2025, the Hungarian government voted to ban Pride-related marches. They’ve decided that any gatherings that “promote or display any deviation from a person’s gender at birth, as well as gender reassignment and homosexuality,” will be prohibited.
The ban had 136 votes in favour and 27 abstentions in the Parliament. The legislation was published in the Hungarian Gazette, making it legally effective. The amendment also states that police are allowed to use facial recognition software to identify protest participants, even though the European Union’s AI law prohibits the use of this software except for terrorist threats. Attending such an event can carry fines of up to 200,000 Hungarian forints ($546).
The organizers of Budapest Pride wrote that this new legislation “is not child protection, it is fascism.” Since the announcement of the ban on Pride, there have been countless demonstrations on the streets.
One independent civic organization hung inverted pink triangles across the capital city of Hungary, because gay people had been marked with pink triangles in concentration camps during World War II. Later, this became a symbol of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. The organization also stated that “sexual orientation and gender identity are not matters of conviction, nor are they merely private issues.”
The public is also demonstrating for the right to peaceful assembly more generally, since the new law violates this right. On March 25, Ákos Hadházy, an independent member of the Hungarian National Assembly, organized a demonstration with approximately 3,500 people to protest against the banning of Pride and the restriction of the right to assembly. Protestors managed to take over 4 bridges in Budapest, blocking traffic for hours. There are plans to repeat the protest on April 1st.
