IN blistering heat today — there were almost as many handheld electronic fans as there were flags among the estimated 200,000 who attended the event that took place following the ousting earlier this year of the monstrous Viktor Orbán, inset, the country’s Christian national Prime Minister who, in his 16 years in the role of the country’s leader, unleashed a wave of homophobia, which culminated in the the banning of Pride events.
One would imagine that Orbán’s departure would have unleashed deafening expressions of jubilation, but members of Hungary’s LGBTQ+ communities remained sceptical that any meaningful change will take place any time soon under the leadership of Peter Magyar, above, who was a member of the Tisza party (Tizla means faith.)
Indeed, writing for Premier Christianity, David Campanale wrote:
Hungary’s electorate has voted to maintain the national, Christian, conservative direction of the central European country … a non-Hungarian observer might imagine the country had just taken a fast, handbrake turn in a new political direction. But though the make of the political vehicle has changed, the direction of travel remains very much the same. Until 24 months ago, Magyar was a junior Fidesz functionary who broke away to establish a new centre-right alternative. His commitment to staying the government’s political course worked in successfully winning over the wavering.
Writing for the Guardian, Ashifa Kassam quoted Petra Buzás, one of the organisers of the Pride event as saying:
Many in the LGBTQ+ community continue to reel from the stigma spread by Orbán’s government as well as its crackdown on rights.We cannot yet speak of a meaningful, widely perceptible change in the everyday lives of LGBTQ people. Many people are still afraid to be open about who they are, about their families, or their relationships, and social stigma remains strong.
Kassam wrote:
Magyar has not made any mention of Pride events, nor has his recently formed conservative government moved to reverse Orbán’s legislation barring such events. This month, a coalition of civil society groups called on the government to repeal the legislation, noting that it had no place in a democratic state governed by the rule of law. Other anti-LGBTQ+ laws introduced by Orbán’s government are also yet to be repealed. ‘The most important obstacles still remain,’ said Buzás, citing legislation that restricts the presence of LGBTQ+ topics in schools, media and bookstores, curtails adoptions by same-sex couples and denies the right to legal gender recognition for transgender and intersex people.
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