Furious Hungarian MPs throw photos of Orbán and Putin kissing in parliament after PM bans Pride

The prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, has passed an anti-LGBTQ+ law banning Pride Marches in the European country – and was met by photos of him kissing Putin and colourful smoke bombs.

The right-wing Fidesz party, which was recently praised by Donald Trump, submitted a bill to Parliament on Tuesday (18 March) to effectively ban Pride from happening in Hungary, as the march was approaching its 30th anniversary.

The bill, which has now been passed into law by the Hungarian government, proposes fines of up to 200,000 forints (£420/$550) for organisers of Budapest Pride, and anyone attending, claiming the event could be considered harmful to children.

The bill will also use facial recognition to target and fine attendees of any Pride marches.

In response to the homophobic bill being passed, members of the centrist Momentum Movement party burnt flares in the Hungarian parliament, and distributed what appear to be AI generated images of Orbán kissing Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

They also set off many multicoloured flares.

“This is not child protection, this is fascism”

In a statement on Monday after the bill was first submitted, Budapest Pride said, “This is not child protection, this is fascism.

“The Hungarian government is trying to restrict peaceful protests with a critical voice by targeting a minority. Therefore, as a movement, we will fight for the freedom of all Hungarians to protest!

“Hungarians are a freedom-loving nation. We know that if the government tries to ban protests with critical voices, they will face resistance from the whole of society. That is why we need a scapegoat, a distraction, another wave of hatred… they lie to their voters about a child protection measure, but there is no child protection in this bill.”

Dávid Vig, Director of Amnesty International Hungary, called the law a “full-frontal attack on the LGBTI community and a blatant violation of Hungary’s obligations to prohibit discrimination and guarantee freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”

He added, “On the eve of the 30th anniversary of Budapest Pride in June, this harmful ban turns the clock back three decades, further undermining the hard-won rights of LGBTI people in Hungary.”

Speaking to news site 24.h last month, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyás, called for Pride to be held inside for “child protection” reasons.

Orbán had already said the organisers “should not even bother” this year because the event would be a “waste of money and time”. 

In 2021, he passed a law banning discussion of LGBTQ+ people in schools and in the media, similar to Russia’s “anti-propaganda” bill. In response, the EU launched a legal action against Hungary and froze funding to the country.

But at the beginning of 2024, Orbán doubled down on his stance, saying “no money in the world” would make him accept what he called LGBTQ+ propaganda.

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