Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman and Irish MEPs are in Budapest today for a Pride parade banned by Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán.
They are among a record number attending the event, despite threats of “legal consequences” for organisers and attendees.
O’Gorman and MEPs Maria Walsh and Cynthia Ní Mhurchú are in the Hungarian capital for the celebrations, the Irish Independent reports.
Those in attendance “face the possibility of arrest, a fine of up to €500 and imprisonment of up to one year under Hungarian law,” said Walsh, who urged any Irish citizens taking part to be on “high alert”.
She described the decision to ban Pride marches as a “frightening step backwards for members of the LGBTQI+ community across Europe”.
“I am proud to be marching in Budapest Pride this weekend. In a year when Orbán has classified public displays of love within my own community as a child protection issue, we must all fight back," Walsh said.
The Hungarian government enacted a hugely controversial “child protection” law in 2021 that prohibits the "depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to children under the age of 18.
A bill was also passed by the parliament outlawing any public gatherings that breached that law, with further legislation effectively banning Pride events.
The European Court of Human Rights has previously deemed that a previous case of Russia banning Pride events was a breach of human rights protections.
Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, also attending the march in Budapest, described the banning of Pride as a “blatant attack on our civil liberties with the European Union”.
She backed calls for the EU to intervene, including requesting interim measures in the ongoing infringement procedure against Hungary’s 2021 anti-LGBTQ+ law.
"The Hungarian Government’s repeated violations of the rule of law and EU treaty principles is setting a dangerous precedent,” she said.
Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who was in Hungary for a conference earlier this week, said the atmosphere in Budapest has been “tense” in the days ahead of the march.
He told RTÉ’s Drivetime that while he expects Hungarian authorities will not use “batons and tear gas on tens of thousands of people” as “the world would see that”, the Green Party mayor of the city could be prosecuted and facial recognition technology will be used to identify attendees and fine them.
"This is very oppressive, this is all contrary to European law, by the way, so I think there’s a role for the European Union to play here in overturning some of these laws.”
