Pride is not a crime. Hungary’s ban is a warning to all of Europe

Viktória Radványi is the president of Budapest Pride.

I was 19 when I joined Budapest Pride as a volunteer. I had just moved to the capital from a small town where being queer meant a lifetime of loneliness and hiding. 

I didn’t even know I was queer yet, I just knew this community stood for something I wanted to be part of: Family, courage, and the power to make change.

Now, 10 years later, I’m the president of Budapest Pride. I have a wife, three beautiful children, and a decade of advocacy experience under my belt. And I am sounding the alarm.

In March, the Hungarian parliament passed a law that makes it punishable to organise or attend a Pride march. Now, anyone who dares to take to the streets for Pride faces police intimidation, crushing fines, and the risk of surveillance through facial recognition technology. 

Organisers like me could even be punished with jail time. Just one day after the vote, the president signed it into law. There was no debate. No consultation. No hesitation.

Unless the European Commission takes immediate action before June 28, Budapest Pride March organisers will not be protected from criminal proceeding. 

Every morning, I look out my kitchen window and wonder: Will Hungarian children grow up believing that peaceful protest is a crime? That speaking up for equal rights deserves punishment? That the fight for justice can land you in jail? 

The European Union was built to protect exactly these freedoms. If its institutions fail to act now, they fail an entire generation. 

This is not just a Hungarian issue. We hear voices of fear all over Europe. We all know this is a fundamental breach of EU law. 

This is a test of whether the EU truly stands for the values it claims to protect: Democracy, freedom of assembly, and human dignity. If the Commission continues to do nothing to protect these principles, no EU citizen will be safe. 

We’ve seen this playbook before – in Russia, Turkey, and other authoritarian regimes where queer people are scapegoated to distract from deeper crises. In Hungary, our government has chosen to attack our rights while our healthcare system collapses, our education system withers, and our youth lose hope for the future.

The law builds on the infamous 2021 “anti-LGBTQ propaganda” legislation, which restricts access to LGBTQ content in schools or media. Now, the government is using that same law to silence our presence on the streets.

They say it’s about protecting children. But really it’s about protecting power.

This is part of a broader attack on civil society – and it works. The vagueness of these laws breeds fear. Schools self-censor. NGOs hesitate. Artists stay silent. And now, with the threat of facial recognition surveillance in public spaces, even attending pride could mean ending up in a police database.

The governing party has also introduced a draft law that would classify foreign funding to Hungarian civil society, media and organisations — even from private individuals or EU grants — as interference in the country’s internal affairs. 

Under this law, even stricter than its Russian counterpart, NGOs and media outlets receiving such funds could face severe penalties. The proposed financial fines are so severe they won’t be able to pay them. 

Budapest Pride has partnered with All Out to launch a petition calling on the European Commission to act. We are urging the EU to request interim measures from the Court of Justice to suspend the law immediately – either through the ongoing infringement procedure already pending, or with a fresh one based on this latest attack.

The Commission is the guardian of EU Treaties, which underpin law changes in the bloc. It has both the power and the duty to protect our right to peaceful assembly. 

If it fails to act, it sends a signal not just to Hungary, but to every government flirting with authoritarianism: You can silence dissent, criminalise protest, and still enjoy the benefits of EU membership.

The EU only works if we hold its institutions accountable. That’s why we need people across Europe – and around the world – to stand with us. We need to make noise. 

This is not just about one march in one city. It’s about whether the EU will live up to its promise to be a home for all, especially for those most under attack.

Pride is not a crime – and we will not back down.