Anti-LGBTQ crackdowns, war loom over Pride Month events
Activists around the world are marking Pride Month against the backdrop of continued legislative attacks against LGBTQ people and war.
The annual Budapest Pride march will take place in the Hungarian capital on June 22. Hungarian celebrities, artists and human rights activists are expected to speak at the opening of the Budapest Pride Community Festival on Friday.
The event, which will end on June 23, will feature documentary screenings, panel discussions, sporting events and other gatherings.
Gay U.S. Ambassador to Hungary David Pressman during a speech he gave at a Budapest Pride reception last year criticized the ongoing crackdown against LGBTQ and intersex rights that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government has carried out. “Pride is a particularly important event in Hungary,” Budapest Pride spokesperson Johanna Majercsik told the Washington Blade in an email. “Despite being a full member of the European Union since 2004, the Hungarian government has systematically reduced the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, and the government apparently doesn’t want to stop there, inciting people against our community, and making references about passing new anti-LGBTQ laws in the future (calling them child protection laws).” More than 150,000 people participated in the annual Seoul Queer Culture Festival in the South Korean capital on June 1, even though authorities had denied permits to organizers.