Freedom, dignity, and equality are not optional. We stand with Budapest Pride!
The European Youth Forum unequivocally condemns the Hungarian government’s decision to ban Budapest Pride, and the criminalisation of its organisers and participants. It is an attack on the fundamental rights of freedom of assembly, freedom of expression, and the right of LGBTQI+ youth to live and exist freely, visibly, and safely.
Hungary is the first EU government to ban a Pride march and threaten to use facial recognition technology to identify and target participants, in an alarming attempt to limit the freedoms of LGBTQI+ people.
The banning of Pride is part of a broader anti-democratic agenda being pursued by the Hungarian government to consolidate power at the expense of marginalised and underrepresented communities, as part of a broader strategy to erase and endanger queer communities for political gain. The coordinated crackdown on LGBTQI+ visibility, civic organisations, and dissenting voices in Hungary is accelerating.
What we are witnessing is not isolated. As ILGA-Europe highlighted, the so-called Transparency in the Public Sphere bill seeks to defund and discredit civil society actors. It is part of a systematic authoritarian playbook which weaponises hate against minorities, shrinks civic space, and undermines democratic institutions from within.
This attack on LGBTQI+ people is also an affront to the rule of law, democratic norms, and every young person who dares to speak out, organise, and hope for a better Europe. This is why we are dismayed by the European Commission’s weak response to the escalating situation.
We express our full solidarity with Budapest Pride and all LGBTQI+ young people in Hungary and we call on the European Commission and all EU institutions to take concrete action. This means:
Launching infringement proceedings against Hungary for violations of the right to peaceful assembly.
Providing emergency legal and financial support to civil society groups which are under threat.
Publicly condemning the use of surveillance against peaceful demonstrators.
As the largest platform of youth organisations in Europe, the European Youth Forum remains committed to promoting diversity, equality, and the right of every young person to participate fully in democratic life. We salute the courage of Mayor Gergely Karácsony and all those ensuring Pride will go ahead in Budapest on 28 June.
The Hungarian ban on Pride is yet another example of the attacks that young Europeans experience solely because of their identity or background. Such attacks are never in isolation - they do not stop at a national border and they do not limit themselves to one group of people. No young person is safe as long as they fear attacks or repression - and neither is any of us. To all queer young people in Hungary and beyond, we say: you are not alone. We stand with you.
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