The sixth Pécs Pride march was held on Saturday under the slogan “Freedom cannot be banned!”, concluding with speeches on a stage in the Baranya county capital. The far-right HVIM–Hungarian Resistance movement said in a statement that it had left an overwhelming stench along the planned route of the march “to accommodate olfactophiles”. As a result, both the assembly point and the route had to be moved. Police detained several people for possessing dangerous weapons.
Overwhelming stench at Pécs Pride
This year’s march was again billed as a demonstration in support of “human rights, freedom of assembly, self-identification, free love and acceptance”. Pride was held as part of the Freedom of my Identity human rights festival organised by the Pécs branch of the Diverse Youth Network, on the final day of the week-long event.
Several hundred people took part in the police-escorted march, which set off at 2pm from the centre of Uránváros, an area once populated largely by miners’ families. The five-kilometre route headed towards the city centre.
Proceeding peacefully, the march approached central Pécs from the north, passing along the city’s main pedestrian street, Király Street. Speakers then addressed the crowd from a stage erected in Kossuth Square, one of the city centre’s main public spaces.
Many of those taking part in the march, as well as those waiting in Kossuth Square, used a loudspeaker to voice their demands for equal rights. Others held banners bearing similar messages aloft, while hits by popular LGBTQ performers played in the background, according to MTI.
The event was overshadowed only by an action carried out by HVIM. The right radical group said it had “wanted to accommodate” another minority, olfactophiles, by scattering a foul-smelling substance along the route and at the assembly point. The two locations were consequently moved about 100 metres away. Even so, the stench remained overpowering in certain areas, with several people saying they thought they had stepped in excrement.
According to Blikk, police had prepared for the march in force but were unable to prevent the action. Instead, three people were taken into custody after officers found them in possession of particularly dangerous objects, including a telescopic baton and a knife.
An event that seemed impossible last year
Participants observed a minute’s silence for victims of homophobia and transphobia before Géza Buzás-Hábel, founder and director of the Diverse Youth Network and chief organiser of Pécs Pride, addressed the crowd.
“Just a year ago, it seemed impossible that today we would be able to stand up for our difference in a Hungary that, while still not free, is freer,” he said, referring to legislation passed by the previous government that remains in force and is regarded by the community as discriminatory.
He said there was nevertheless reason to hope that the current leadership would repeal the laws and “put the legal position of LGBTQ people in order”.
Mr Buzás-Hábel said it mattered what people filled their lives with. In his view, they should be filled with as much love as possible, and he said he was fighting to ensure that everyone had the same opportunity to experience it.
He urged members of the audience not to be afraid to acknowledge who they were, and to fight for their happiness, freedom and present lives – as well as for a future in which their children and grandchildren could live in a more perfect, beautiful and democratic Hungary.
International guests
Marc Angel, a Luxembourgish MEP, member of the Socialists and Democrats group and former vice-president of the European Parliament, described Mr Buzás-Hábel as a “European hero”.
He highlighted the fact that, despite serious and genuine threats, the young activist had organised Pécs Pride six times with fellow campaigners. Members of the LGBTQ community, he said, should not be forced to hide, and their courage was needed to ensure they could live their lives on an equal footing.
Mr Angel said that attending last year’s Pride in the capital had been an uplifting experience, as hundreds of thousands of people marched in support of diversity and democracy. But it was particularly important, he added, that people in Hungary and across Europe were now standing up not only in major cities but also in smaller communities.
“Today, Pécs is the European capital of equality,” he said. He pledged to continue doing everything in his power in the European Parliament to support LGBTQ people, and said he and his colleagues would fight – and ultimately win – the battle for a more equal Europe.
Access to hormone treatment remains difficult
Dea Nagy, a transgender activist, shared her personal story, saying that her grandmother had been the only member of her family to accept her for who she was.
She said access to hormone treatment was currently difficult in Hungary, with many people unable to afford it. Non-binary transgender people, she added, had no access to hormone treatment at all.
Such treatment could be “life-saving” in some cases, she said, referring to people who suffered serious mental-health problems because they were unable to live fully as themselves.
Jenna Jalonen, head of artistic programmes at the Sziget Festival, and György Ujvári-Pintér, programme director of the Magic Mirror tent, spoke about the queer community and the importance of recognising that every person was different and therefore saw the world differently.
That principle, they said, should also apply to basic questions such as gender identity.
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“Pride is not only about who we are, but also about the kind of world we want to live in,” Mr Ujvári-Pintér said, arguing that members of the LGBTQ community wanted nothing more than the rights available to everyone else.
Calls for same-sex couples to be allowed to adopt
Influencer Ildikó Balogh used an ironic speech, which repeatedly prompted laughter from the audience, to challenge misconceptions about gay people.
She said children raised by a same-sex couple would certainly receive greater security and more love than many children living in state institutions.
Content creator Máté Sipos compared the experience of LGBTQ people today with that of left-handed people, who were once subjected to attempts by the majority to force them to change and conform.
“They, too, believed there was something wrong with them,” he said, adding that the struggle would continue until no member of any future generation had to hide or feel ashamed of who they were.
At the end of the event, organisers announced that another Hungarian city would host a Pride march in 2027, with members of the LGBTQ community due to take to the streets of Szeged in the spring.
More LGTBQ in Hungary news in our archive.
