Fanni Fajth, an 18-year-old student in Budapest, summed up the mood in the Hungarian capital on Saturday, as tens of thousands of marchers turned out for the first Pride celebration in the country since authoritarian leader Viktor Orbán was deposed in April after 16 years in office.
“Everyone is just so much more uplifted,” she told Reuters. “I think it would be wonderful if we just had equal rights finally after all these years.”
Related
There’s a long list of those rights that were denied to LGBTQ+ Hungarians during Orbán’s 16-year reign, including marriage, adoption rights, gender marker changes, and the freedom to assemble to celebrate Pride.
Last year, in a desperate appeal to the right far-right base of his ruling Fidesz party, Orbán orchestrated a constitutional ban on Pride celebrations, which was widely condemned across Europe and inspired a massive protest at last June’s outlawed march in Budapest. Organizers say 350,000 people turned out to rebuke Orbán and his authoritarian agenda.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
The mood was much more optimistic this year, following Orbán’s ouster and the election of the country’s new center-right prime minister, Peter Maygar.
“The biggest change is actually the change in politics in the country,” said Mate Tarnai, a 51-year-old chemist at Saturday’s march. Tens of thousands of marchers braved 100-degree temperatures along the route from the city’s Opera House and across the Elizabeth Bridge over the Danube.
“We feel more freedom personally, as well, and also the atmosphere in the country is much more relaxed than last year,” he said.
Tarnai also said he hoped for equal rights from Magyar’s government.
Magyar has asked for patience about changing legislation that curtailed the rights of the LGBTQ+ community under Orbán, one of President Donald Trump’s only outspoken allies in Europe.
“We have made it clear that, in our view, everyone is free to love whom they want and live with whom they want, as long as they do not violate the law,” Maygar said earlier in June when asked about same-sex marriage and adoption.
“If there is a demand for us to discuss such socially and politically sensitive issues,” he added, “we are open to that.”
Local police authorized Saturday’s Pride celebration in Budapest. Maygar did not attend.
A former official in Orbán’s government, Maygar broke with the prime minister several years ago and could be described as libertarian. He has asserted that his new government shouldn’t dictate how Hungarians live.
“Obviously, the laws haven’t changed yet, but there are already many signs of hope for our community,” Kristóf Györgyi, a first-time Pride-goer, told the Associated Press.
He traveled from the southern city of Szeged to Budapest and has high hopes that Maygar’s Tisza party will match the rights LGBTQ+ people enjoy in most other European countries.
“The fact that there’s already a debate in Parliament about whether an orphaned child is better off with a same-sex couple or in an orphanage is a positive sign,” he said of early discussions around Orbán-era policies.
Boglarka Boruzs, 23, an interpreter and translator, told Reuters the biggest change from Orbán’s rule was that LGBTQ+ people could now feel safer and more accepted in everyday life.
Politicians hold the power, she said, to “make society understand that it’s okay to be gay.”
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.