Hungary passes law banning Pride events in new blow to LGBTQ+ rights

Hungary's parliament passed a law on Tuesday banning Pride events and allowing police to use facial recognition software to identify attendees, continuing a crackdown by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s right-wing populist party on the country's LBGTQ+ community.

The legislation, supported by Orbán’s Fidesz party and their minority coalition partner the Christian Democrats, passed in a 136-27 vote. It was pushed through parliament in an accelerated procedure after being submitted only a day earlier.

It amends Hungary’s law on assembly to make it an offence to hold or attend events that violate the country's contentious "child protection" legislation, which prohibits the "depiction or promotion" of homosexuality to anyone aged under 18.

Attending a banned event will carry fines up to 200,000 Hungarian forints (€503), which the state must forward to "child protection," according to the text of the law. Authorities may use facial recognition tools to identify people attending a prohibited event, it says.

As the vote was being held, opposition lawmakers from the Momentum party ignited smoke bombs in the chamber, filling it with thick plumes of colourful smoke.

In a statement on Monday after lawmakers first submitted the bill, Budapest Pride organisers said the aim of the law was to "scapegoat" the LGBTQ+ community in order to silence voices critical of Orbán’s government.

"This is not child protection, it is fascism," said Máté Hegedűs, press officer for the event. "Pride is a movement that cannot be banned."

Hungary's LGBTQ+ crackdown

The new legislation is the latest measure against LGBTQ+ individuals taken by Orbán, whose government has passed other laws that rights groups and other European politicians have decried as repressive against sexual minorities.

Hungary’s government portrays itself as a champion of traditional family values and a defender of Christian civilisation from what it calls "gender madness," and argues that its policies are designed to protect children from "sexual propaganda".

In a speech in February, Orbán hinted that his government would take steps to ban the Budapest Pride event, which attracts thousands and celebrates the history of the LGBTQ+ movement.

Hadja Lahbib, the European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, decried the sweeping nature of the new law. "Freedom, dignity, and human rights – these are not up for debate," Lahbib said in a statement to Euronews.

"Freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are core European values, and they must be upheld for everyone, everywhere," she added. "We stand with the LGBTIQ community in Hungary and beyond. Equality is non-negotiable."

Amnesty International said the law was "a full-frontal attack" on the LGBTQ+ community.

"On the eve of the 30th anniversary of Budapest Pride in June, this harmful ban turns the clock back three decades, further undermining the hard-won rights of LGBTI people in Hungary," Dávid Vig, director of Amnesty International Hungary, said in a statement.