They want to silence us' LGBTQ+ groups defy ban on Pride

Marching with a pink, white and baby blue transgender flag, Corvus gathered with thousands of others in Budapest this week.

- Lili Rutai Budapest

The 20-year-old started transitioning last August but cannot change their gender or name legally in Hungary, where an authoritarian rightwing government is cracking down on LGBTQ+ rights.

Corvus wasn't asking for an overhaul of transgender policy or anything particularly radical. They were asking for the right to be able to take part in a Pride parade. "The government wants to silence our voice and deny our existence," they said. "They will not succeed."

On 18 March, Hungary's parliament, in which a Christian-conservative coalition controlled by the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has a two-thirds majority, voted for a new restriction on the right to assembly, which was seen as a brazen targeting of Budapest Pride. Building on a 2021 "child protection" law, which bans the "promotion" of homosexuality to people under the age of 18, it outlaws events that are seen as doing that. It also allows the police to use facial recognition in an attempt to prosecute those who disregard it. The law is due to come into effect in mid-April.