WorthyNews: Budapest Mayor Defies Pride March Ban

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By Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief

BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – The liberal mayor of Budapest pledged Thursday to go ahead with a controversial rally defending LGBTQ+ rights after police banned the Pride march in the Hungarian capital.

Gergely Karácsony said, “Given that the city council did not make its announcement within the ambit of the law on gatherings, this ban has no value.”

Yet police said they banned the Budapest Pride march on June 28, citing legislation that was recently adopted by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, which has a large majority in Parliament.

The law created a legal basis for police to ban LGBTQ+ marches, citing the “protection of children.” Orbán has expressed concern about “LGBTQ+ “activism” that he said had been targeting children in schools as well as through events, media, and books.

Therefore, “The police, acting within their authority over public assemblies, prohibit the holding of the assembly at the aforementioned location and time,” the police said in a statement.

The police added that the decision could be appealed at the country’s supreme court within three days.

RAINBOW UNICORN

Yet in a social media message adorned by a picture of a rainbow unicorn, Mayor Karácsony ridiculed the ban, saying police might as well issue a ban affecting the legendary creatures, adding: “Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest Pride march on June 28 as a city event. Period.”

The Hungarian ban on the Budapest Pride march comes a day after a debate on the march was held at the European Union’s legislature, with dozens of lawmakers declaring their support and solidarity. Earlier this week, thousands of Hungarians also rallied against the legislation.

Iratxe García Pérez, the Spanish leader of the Socialist group in the EU’s European Parliament, addressed gay people in Hungary directly during the debate on Wednesday: “We see you, we hear you, and on June 28, we will march with you in Budapest, side by side, proud and loud.”

Tineke Strik, a Dutch Green European legislator, who recently led a delegation of lawmakers to Hungary, said she and 70 European deputies would be in Budapest. “Me and 70 colleagues will do what the [EU’s executive European ] Commission won’t. We will come to the Pride. We will show the Hungarians that they are not alone.”

Amsterdam’s Mayor, Femke Halsema, and a junior Dutch minister have also confirmed their attendance at the event.

Yet the European Commission seems reluctant to join, with Hungary being a key EU member that could use its veto over issues such as more sanctions toward Russia and other thorny issues.

BILLIONS WITHHOLD

However, the EU has withheld more than 19 billion euros (roughly $22 billion) in funding for Hungary over its policies toward the LGBTQ+ community, media migration, rule of law, and corruption concerns.

However Orbán says “there is no amount of money that would induce us to surrender our children and grandchildren to LGBTQ [+] activists. In Hungarian families this is impossible, simply “inconceivable,” as the raising of children, in particular, sexual education, is the right and duty of families and parents.”

He also told Hungarian radio, “No one can take this right away from them, especially not schools.”

Orbán stressed that “children should not meet people in schools that their parents would not like them to meet at home or even on the street. They cannot blackmail us on these issues financially because these are more important issues than money, “ stressed Orbán, who is a close ally of U.S. President Donald J. Trump.

Under Orbán, the Hungarian constitution, known as the Fundamental Law, was amended to define marriage as the “union of one man and one woman” and the protection of the traditional family as “the foundation of the nation.”

The constitution also specifies that “a mother shall be a woman and a father shall be a man.”

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