I visited Budapest in 1990 very soon after the fall of the Iron Curtain, when the first glimmers of open gay life were just starting to show – nervous glimmers indeed compared to the astounding turnout of an estimated 200,000 people at the LGBTQ+ Pride march in the Hungarian capital on the 28th June 2025, the march expanding from a previous peak of 35,000 people as people came together in defiance of a ban put on the assembly by the Prime Minister, Viktor Orban.
In 1990 the gays in Budapest were not visible. There was a bar or two in the fashionable city centre where Spartacus, the gay guide to the world that every gay traveler kept in their backpack in those days, said gays were welcome. They were in no way gay bars – and the only club in town was in a discrete backstreet location some distance from the centre, had no signage to indicate its presence – but once inside I found a fledgling gay scene taking its first, nervous, steps. People were shy and guarded, but the music was good and we danced. I remember meeting a Russian ballet dancer. That was it. Gays were definitely not in the news. The big story in Budapest at the time was the opening of their first MacDonalds.
28th June this year was the 56th anniversary of the start of the Stonewall Riots in New York, the moment that is regarded as the kicking off point for the Gay Pride movement that emerged in the 1970s. As a direct consequence of the Hungarian government’s vindictive attack on the LGBTQ+ community, the world now sees how far the Hungarian people have come in accepting their queer brothers, sisters and children – this anniversary year may stand out in history as something like Hungary’s own Stonewall moment.
But no riot in Budapest. Despite threats to use facial recognition software and fine attendees, in the end the government directed the police to not harass participants and although they also gave permission to right wing groups to stage counter protests, nothing of any significance emerged from that. Instead a massive parade celebrating love in all its forms with attendees from 40 countries, stretched through the city. The photos and videos are incredible.
The beauty, harmony, love, peacefulness and joy on display revealed how utterly phobic and toxic the homophobic attitude of the ruling party is. The official ban was justified on the grounds of Pride being a danger to children – which simply reveals the dark minds of those proposing the ban, who are actually projecting their own dark thoughts onto gay people when they see us as sexual deviants and predators. Pride is not about sex, it’s about freedom – and knowing that, many heterosexuals walked in the march too.
Hungary is not the only eastern European country in which right wing politicians are stoking public debate about gay and trans people to fire up their base and to distract from anti-democratic legislation which they are pushing through their parliaments. It’s happening in Slovenia too. And some might say there’s signs of the same in the UK.
Pride is a Freedom March.
A Protest. A Declaration of Power.
Pride is Love In Action.
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