Flor Salgueiro, International Socialisst League
A massive LGTBIAQ+ Pride March filled the streets of Budapest in defiance of the repressive far-right government. In a context of state persecution, censorship and institutional hatred, the mobilization leads the way. Pride is struggle! And that struggle, to succeed, needs a revolutionary and socialist way out.
A historic march, neither “disgusting” nor “shameful”.
Every June 28 and for days to come, the streets of the world are filled with colors, dignity and resistance as part of the LGTBIAQ+ International Pride. Year after year, the mobilizations are increasingly massive and growing in different corners of the world. This year they were strongly expressed in countries such as Turkey, the US, Spain and Mexico.
Although in every country “Pride” vindicated the rights that have been achieved and demanded, and those that are still not guaranteed, in Hungary the day took on a particularly defiant aspect. The Budapest event became a strong popular response to the repressive policy of Orbán’s regime, which for years has launched a legal, media and cultural offensive against the rights of the LGTBIAQ+ community, in alliance with clerical, misogynist and ultranationalist sectors.
For Orbán it was a march “ordered from Brussels” that included “disgusting and shameful” events. For us, it was a historic march since around 200,000 people disobeyed the authoritarian, patriarchal, nationalist and reactionary restrictions of the Hungarian government and regime.
Despite official attempts to sabotage the mobilization —legal bans, police threats and biased or manipulated media coverage— the crowd marched forward in defiance of those obstacles. The attempt to prevent passage over the Erzsébet Bridge was circumvented by thousands who, organized and determined, made their voices heard. The route was marked by chants and slogans such as “We are not afraid!”, expressing not only the defense of the right to identity and free sexual expression, but also an open rejection of state homophobia. The strong police presence and small groups of the extreme right were notorious, but did not manage to overshadow the combative, courageous and multitudinous character of the march.
Orbán and his regime are at the top of the backward list
Viktor Orbán has been Prime Minister of Hungary two different times: the first one from 1998 to 2002 and the second one started in 2010, he was re-elected in 2014, 2018 and 2022 and remains in power until today.
Its reactionary crusade has intensified through laws equating educational and cultural content on sexual diversity with “pedophile propaganda,” censoring materials in schools and libraries, and suppressing legal recognition of transgender people. All this under the pretext of defending “traditional values” and a so-called “Hungarian family”.
This offensive is not an isolated event: it is part of a more general strategy of authoritarian reinforcement of the State, with a nationalist, racist, patriarchal and anti-worker logic. Orbán is thus positioning himself as a referent of the European ultra-right, strengthening ties with Donald Trump, Santiago Abascal, Marine Le Pen and Giorgia Meloni. They share common enemies: migrants, feminism, LGBTIQ+ community and social rights. Faced with this panorama, the social response takes on extra value.
The whole world is experiencing a sharpening of social and political polarization. At one pole, the ultra-right is expanding and acquiring political representation with hate speeches and repressive policies that are advancing on democratic rights. On the other, workers’ mobilizations, strikes, youth uprisings and mass actions such as the recent Pride March in Hungary are growing; even with the weakness of not having a revolutionary leadership at the forefront.
We have to stop the far-right
What is happening in Budapest is not an isolated event, but part of a global phenomenon that expresses the existence of a sharp answer to the far-right and the growing willingness to confront hatred with organization, struggle and active solidarity.
The massive turnout at Pride reflects that there is a significant portion of Hungarian society that does not accept the official policy of hatred. Multiple collectives, trade unions, student organizations and international delegations expressed their support and mobilized against the regime’s attempt to impose silence and fear.
We have to deepen the broadest unity of action in the streets Full democratic liberties, down with reactionary legislations! And project the mobilization with a perspective of anti-capitalist and socialist struggle.
The best defense of LGTBIAQ+ rights is to unite with the demands of feminism and working people, because full democratic and social rights will not be achieved as long as patriarchy and capitalism persist. It is urgent that patriarchy and capitalism fall together!