BUDAPEST – The Budapest Police Department has refused to grant permission for this year’s Budapest Pride march. This is not the first time the police have tried to prevent the march, and this year they again justified their decision to restrict freedom of assembly with the claim that it is impossible to redirect traffic to another route.
The march had been announced for July 7, 2012, with a route from City Park to Alkotmány Street along Andrássy Avenue, by the festival’s organizers, the Rainbow Mission Foundation but has since been cancelled.
Organizers of the march, along with the help of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, plan on repealing the police’s decision, which is expected to be announced in the next few weeks.
The march is a part of the Budapest Pride Film and Cultural Festival, whose goal is to raise awareness about the discrimination and legal inequality faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people. The festival aims to build and strengthen the Hungarian LGBT community, address and involve heterosexual allies, and stand up against stereotypical and homophobic portrayals of our community.
Banning the march is one of the means used to silence the LGBT community in Hungary. The last two years have seen democracy, human rights, and the rule of law threatened in Hungary, and through its actions, the government has infringed upon the rights of many groups. The Basic Law, passed in April 2011 and in effect since the beginning of this year, the “family protection” law voted on last December, and the Hungarian Society for the Science of the Family founded in February have all severely violated the rights of LGBT people in Hungary.
