Hungary’s parliament, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s national-conservative and anti-globalist Fidesz party, passed new “child protection” legislation on Tuesday, which, among other provisions, bans LGBT ‘Pride’ marches.
The law—an amendment to the Assembly Act—passed by a decisive 136-27 vote with no abstentions and backed by Orbán’s Fidesz party and their minority coalition partner, the Christian Democrats, makes it “illegal to hold an assembly that violates the prohibition set forth in Child Protection Act.”
“Today, we voted to ban gatherings that violate child protection laws. In Hungary, a child’s right to healthy physical, mental, intellectual, and moral development comes first. We won’t let woke ideology endanger our kids,” Prime Minister Orbán wrote on X following the cote.
Child protection: ✅
Pride march: ❌Today, we voted to ban gatherings that violate child protection laws. In Hungary, a child’s right to healthy physical, mental, intellectual, and moral development comes first. We won’t let woke ideology endanger our kids.
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) March 18, 2025
The Child Protection Act passed in 2024, prohibits the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality, gender reassignment, or deviation from birth sex identity to minors under the age of 18.
❗️Hungary Bans LGBT Pride Marches from Public Spaces:
“We believe that the country should no longer tolerate Pride marching in the protection of our children”
-PM Orbán Viktor pic.twitter.com/QL0T1nF0rR— Based Hungary (@HungaryBased) March 3, 2025
Under the approved amendment, individuals attending prohibited events may be fined between 6,500 and 200,000 Hungarian forints (€16 to €502)—penalties that cannot be substituted with community service or detention. The proceeds from these fines will be allocated to child protection initiatives.
Additionally, the law authorizes security forces to use facial recognition technology to identify individuals participating in events deemed illegal, including unauthorized Pride marches.
Predictably, the new law has incited indignation and sparked outrage among pro-globalist establishment liberals both within Hungary and throughout Europe. The mainstream press, of course, is also seething.
A small faction of left-liberal lawmakers in Hungary’s parliament staged a protest against the new law by setting off smoke bombs within the chamber, filling the room with plumes of colored smoke.
‼️JUST IN: #Hungary‘s ruling party Fidesz-KDNP voted yes to ban the Pride march and impose fines on organisers and people attending the event .
Opposition party Momentum burnt smoke candles in Parliament to protest the measures. pic.twitter.com/4i6EhcsBcr
— Viktória Serdült (@viktoriaserdult) March 18, 2025
Speaking to the Hungarian press, Máté Kocsis, leader of the Fidesz parliamentary group, said: “Protecting children is a priority in all circumstances. Anyone who has children knows what the problem is with the Pride parade and its aftermath on social media and other public forums. I have three children and I would not want them to see such content.”
“Perhaps the organizers are also aware that what they do year after year irritates a large part of society. Abnormality provokes normality,” he Kocsis.
Prime Minister Orbán has defended the legislation as a vital step to shield children from what he characterizes as the indoctrination of liberal ideologies and the perceived decadence of Pride marches in Western Europe.
Gergely Gulyás, Orbán’s chief of staff, recently proposed that Pride events could be held indoors to protect children from exposure, asserting that the law is specifically designed to protect the innocence of children.
Critics of the new legislation have accused Prime Minister Orbán’s conservative government of repressing LGBT rights as a strategy to secure electoral support in advance of next year’s pivotal parliamentary elections.
Budapest Pride went so far as to characterize the law as tantamount to “fascism.” LGBT activists and organizers of the annual Pride march in Budapest have vowed to move forward with the event that was scheduled to take place on June 28th.
“The 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 demonstrate!” Pride spokesperson Mate Hegedus said
“People are still willing to come to Budapest Pride and show support to the community even if they have to pay fines,” he added.
Budapest’s left-liberal mayor Gergely Karácsony, struck a similar tone, telling Politico Europe: “Whatever anyone says, there will be Pride in Budapest this June. It may even be bigger than ever before.”
