Hungarian Protests Break Out Over LGBTQ Crackdown

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Budapest this week to protest against a new anti-LGBTQ law banning Pride events and allowing authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify and fine those attending such festivities, the Associated Press reported.

On Tuesday, protesters marched outside the Hungarian parliament shortly after the law was passed, chanting anti-government slogans. They also blockaded the Margaret Bridge over the Danube, ignoring police instructions to clear the area.

The new bill amends the law on assembly to make it an offense to hold or participate in events that violate the controversial 2021 “child protection” law, which prohibits sharing with minors any content concerning homosexuality and sex reassignment and bans the mention of LGBTQ issues in schools.

Supporters believe the legislation helps fight pedophilia while the European Commission and human rights groups condemned it as discrimination.

The new measures involving facial recognition software will allow authorities to identify people who attended events such as Pride. Those attending could be fined around $540 which the state must forward to “child protection” projects, according to the text of the law.

Critics are worried that allowing the use of facial recognition technology at LGBTQ events could pave the way for its use at any other gathering the government deems unlawful.

Event organizers, meanwhile, called the move a restriction on freedom of speech and the right to peaceful assemble, accusing the government of targeting the LGBTQ community to divert attention from more pressing issues and silence criticism of Orbán’s administration.

Observers described the legislation as part of an ongoing crackdown on Hungary’s LGBTQ community carried out by the nationalist-populist Fidesz party led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.

Orbán and his ruling Fidesz party have presented themselves as symbolizing traditional family values and Christianity, saying they want to protect people and children from what it describes as “gender madness” and “sexual propaganda,” the Associated Press reported.

In power since 2010, Orbán is expected to face an unprecedented challenge by an increasingly popular opposition party in the 2026 elections.