Budapest Pride’s record turnout exposes Viktor Orban’s waning grip on power
Despite attempts by Hungarian authorities to ban this year's Budapest Pride, the event went ahead on June 28 with what organisers and observers described as the largest turnout in the march's 30-year history. In fact, it may have the largest ever gathering in Hungary's history, with at least 250,000 people taking part, according to commentators.
In his February State of the Nation address, the prime minister said organisers should not bother with this year's event, implying that the parade marking its 30th anniversary would be cancelled.
The government passed legislation to curb the right of assembly and to that order it changed the Basic Law (constitution) to create the "basis" of banning Pride by placing children's rights above all other rights.
According to observers, the government's attempts to suppress the march ended in a spectacular failure, as it mobilised people to make a show of defiance. As many commentators pointed out, Viktor Orban helped to organise the largest Pride ever and this could be politically damaging for him especially among more radical voters, as he may look weak for not enforcing the ban.
In the lead-up to the event, state authorities deployed a series of escalating intimidation tactics designed to dissuade organisers and participants. Organisers were threatened with criminal liability and potential jail time, while the police issued formal bans on the event citing vague security concerns and administrative technicalities, which, however, were reversed by Hungary's highest court.
Surveillance cameras were hurriedly installed along key sections of the proposed route, fuelling concerns that participants might later face identification and legal repercussions through facial recognition technology.
Before the rally there were fears that radical right-wing party Our Homeland would use the event to show force, as the party received the permits for the same route as Budapest Pride organisers. A few dozen of their supporters blocked Liberty bridge, the planned route of the march from central Budapest to the banks of the Buda side of the capital near the Technical University, but police then rerouted the march.
Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony bypassed the government decree and police permit requirement by designating it a "city council-organised event." In the days before the march, the liberal leader of the capital revealed that the Interior Ministry had warned him of possible legal consequences, and that high-level police officials had raised concerns about permitting the march to follow its planned route.
Speaking at the University of Technology and Economics, the endpoint of the parade, Karacsony framed the event as both a "celebration of freedom" and a symbolic counterpoint to Hungary's political climate. "The hateful powers that be have no power over us," he told the crowd, in a veiled rebuke of Viktor Orban's right-wing government, which has frequently clashed with LGBTQ+ groups and curtailed civil liberties.
Marking the anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary, Karacsony drew a parallel between past and present authoritarianism. "Since they already left once, we don't need Putin's followers to take their place," he said, referring to Hungary's increasingly close ties to Moscow.
Commentators and opposition politicians suggested that the government may have misjudged the political impact of the move. Attempts to prevent or delegitimise the march appeared to have galvanised support instead, in a rare sign of solidarity.
"Orban may have helped create the largest demonstration against himself," one political scientist told local media, adding that when people are threatened with legal consequences for exercising basic freedoms, they tend to push back harder.
Critics of the government described the event as a turning point, comparing it to earlier moments of mass protest in Hungary's post-1989 democratic era. However, most analysts cautioned that Saturday's events alone are unlikely to cause an immediate political shift, especially without broader mobilisation beyond Budapest.
On social media, Fidesz promoted a parallel "Day of Pride" campaign focused on traditional family values, with party members posting pictures of their children.
According to one political analyst, Fidesz's strategy appeared to be pushing Peter Magyar into taking a public stand in the debate over Pride, so they could associate him with "Brussels gender lobbyists", but the head of the Tisza Party avoided that trap and refrained from the political debate surrounding Budapest Pride.
Fidesz politicians used AI-generated photos of Magyar wearing rainbow-coloured T-shirts as he was promoting the event. Many of his Budapest supporters still showed up, and analysts agree that even his refrainment from supporting Pride will leave his reputation untarnished as leader of the opposition. Magyar knows all too well that in order to defeat Fidesz, he has to convince conservative, less educated rural voters.
Commenting on the events on Saturday, Magyar wrote on Facebook that Viktor Orban, once seen as a strongman, appears weakened, with growing resistance within his own ranks and a state apparatus unwilling to enforce his harsher directives. Orban can no longer govern and this marks the beginning of the final act, the period of total disintegration, he added.
Fidesz appeared to downplay the significance of the wave of solidarity, saying that the entirety of the Hungarian opposition "lined up behind the rainbow flag and openly identified with an ideology that the majority of Hungarian society rejects."
The prime minister's political director, Balazs Orban (namesake of Viktor Orban), said the Hungarian government represented the majority position, which was that "LGBTQ propaganda should not be a part of our everyday life", and that "instead we should protect our children, preserve the family and organise society along clear values".
The government's conservative and child protection policy had collapsed for good, commented deputy leader of Our Homeland, accusing Fidesz of yielding to what he called "the homosexual lobby".
Many commentators noted that the sheer scale of the event, and the state's eventual decision to allow it to proceed, signalled a loss of control and resolve within Fidesz. It exposed a fracture between the government's radical rhetoric and its ability, or willingness, to follow through. This perceived weakness could alienate Fidesz's most hardline supporters, who may increasingly turn to far-right parties like Our Homeland.
Big crowds gather in Hungarian capital to defy ban on Budapest Pride
