200,000 March In Budapest Pride, Refusing To Capitulate To Anti-LGBTQ+ Law

The march can teach the world the power of organized solidarity in the wake of a global, anti-LGBTQ+ reactionary movement.

Source: Reddit, /u/uasztalosptr

In recent months, it has been easy for LGBTQ+ people to feel despair. Around the world, laws targeting queer and transgender existence have passed at alarming rates—and here in the United States, even acknowledging transgender people can risk the loss of federal funding. The situation is compounded by a Supreme Court increasingly willing to greenlight every overreach of executive power, leaving constitutional challenges without teeth. But as grim as things have become in the U.S., the crackdown in Hungary has been even more severe. There, the government has passed laws banning Pride festivities entirely, even amending its constitution to block any legal challenge to the ban. And yet, that is not where the story ends. While American institutions wrestle with their commitment to the LGBTQ+ community, Budapest has just shown the world how to fight back: led by the city’s mayor, more than 200,000 people defied the ban and marched for Pride anyway.

The marchers crossed the Elisabeth Bridge, led by Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, who defiantly designated the parade an official city event despite threats from Hungary’s federal government. When it came time to address the crowd, he declared, “You don't look like you've been banned… You gave the finger to the pompous, hateful government.” Standing with him were members of the European Parliament, mayors from across Europe, and local organizers—including one person wearing a “Protect the Dolls” T-shirt, a phrase popularized by actor Pedro Pascal and musician Troye Sivan in support of transgender women.

Mayor of Budapest

Hungary has increasingly restricted the rights of LGBTQ+ people—particularly transgender people—under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s far-right government. Laws enacted in recent years include a ban on legal gender recognition for transgender individuals, a so-called “LGBTQ+ propaganda” law designed to censor LGBTQ+ content in media and schools, and a prohibition on same-sex couples adopting children. Most recently, the Hungarian parliament passed legislation declaring pride parades illegal. To reinforce the ban, lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment prioritizing a child’s “moral development” over all other rights, including the right to peaceful assembly. The amendment was crafted specifically to halt Budapest Pride, with Orbán declaring organizers should “save [their] money and energy,” asserting the event would not happen this year.

Organizers and Mayor Gergely Karácsony had other plans. The city officially designated Budapest Pride as a city-sponsored event—an action he argued exempted it from the national ban. The move mirrors strategies employed by some U.S. cities facing similar restrictions. In response to bans on flying the Pride flag, municipalities such as Missoula, Montana; Boise, Idaho; and Salt Lake City, Utah passed resolutions declaring the Pride flag an official city symbol, allowing them to display it during Pride Month.

Despite the designation, Karácsony and other organizers were warned that they could still face criminal charges and up to a one-year prison sentence. Undeterred, they marched anyway. In defiance of an increasingly authoritarian government, they refused to yield to pressure or capitulate. The parade went on, drawing more than 200,000 attendees, according to estimates from organizers.

Here in the United States, similar restrictions are taking hold, and the far right appears to be charting a course increasingly aligned with Hungary in its treatment of LGBTQ+ people—especially transgender individuals. Pride parades in states like Tennessee and Florida have already been canceled due to restrictive laws or government threats, though in some cases, they have been successfully challenged. This week, the Supreme Court ruled that parents have a right to opt their children out of learning about LGBTQ+ people in schools. Book bans continue to spread, and several states have passed laws to eliminate legal recognition for transgender people.

In the face of mounting attacks, it’s easy for LGBTQ+ people in the United States to feel crushed beneath the weight of it all. But moments like Budapest remind us that even under the most repressive regimes, our communities still rise. Against constitutional bans, prison threats, and state-backed intimidation, hundreds of thousands still marched in the largest Pride parade in history there. What Budapest shows us is that no law, no amendment, no authoritarian edict can erase who we are and those who love us. The arc of history may bend slowly, but it does not bend on its own—it bends because we push collectively, and there are so many who have our backs.