Budapest Pride Once Again Biggest Concern of EU Parliament

Showing where the priorities lie, the European Parliament once again held a major debate about Hungary’s recent ban on Pride parades in public at this month’s plenary, the third time in a row since the law was proposed this spring. 

During Wednesday’s debate, mainstream and leftist lawmakers furiously demanded from the European Commission the opening of another infringement procedure against Hungary, complete with freezing all its remaining EU funds and stripping it from its voting rights in the Council through the never-been-used Article 7—the EU’s so-called nuclear option—just because the Hungarian government dared to decide what behavior does not belong in front of children on the streets of Budapest.

The debate also came right after Budapest’s leftist mayor announced that he would defy the law and organize the Pride on June 28th. He also invited left-liberal politicians from all around Europe to attend, and several top MEPs already said they would, including Iratxe García, Valérie Hayer, and Terry Reintke, the chairwomen of the social democrat S&D, the liberal Renew, and the Greens, respectively.

Several MEPs also argued that their presence is not enough to send a strong enough message about Hungary’s “authoritarian” drift, urging the College of Commissioners, including President von der Leyen, to attend the Budapest Pride as well, albeit it’s unlikely to happen.

“We need the Commission, once and for all, to fully invoke Article 7, to freeze&D the European funds that an illiberal government shouldn’t manage, and the commissioners need to be there, on the 28th of June, in Budapest. That is where the people need you,” García told the EU’s rule of law chief, Michael McGrath, in Strasbourg.

Although visibly annoyed by the fact that they’re forced to have this discussion over and over every month, many conservatives rose to hit back at the mainstream’s hypocrisy and defend Hungary’s sovereign right to decide matters concerning child protection and public decency.

The Patriots’ keynote speaker, Kinga Gál, representing Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party, went straight to the point when she noted this was the 13th time that LGBT rights in Hungary had been put on the Strasbourg agenda by the left-leaning majority of the parliament, which shows the incredible double standards at the heart of the issue. 

Indeed, several European countries rank lower than Hungary in terms of LGBT rights according to ILGA Europe’s ‘Rainbow’ index—including Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria—but none of them face infringement procedures or constant lawsuits at the European level, like Hungary’s conservative government does. Five EU countries were even reprimanded by the European Court of Human Rights last year for refusing to implement same-sex civil unions. Hungary wasn’t among them, yet it’s the only one to stand accused of systemic homophobia in Brussels every month.

“You try to use the rule of law as a means of exerting pressure, because the Hungarian government is not willing to give in to Brussels’ expectations, and it’s not willing to give up its national interests for your dictatorship,” Gál said.

Our biggest crime is that we stand up for children’s rights against the gender lobby. In Hungary, everybody is able to live and assemble freely. However, for us, children’s right to healthy physical and psychological development is the most important.

The Patriot vice-chair added that it’s “embarrassing” that, on the other hand, the Parliament refuses to hold debates on the NGO financing scandals or ECJ’s recent Pfizergate ruling, which had been twice blocked by von der Leyen’s “center-right” EPP from reaching the plenary floor. “This is the peak of hypocrisy, colleagues,” Gál said.

On behalf of the ECR group, MEP Paolo Inselvini (from Giorgia Meloni’s ruling Fratelli d’Italia party) argued that this debate is just another attempt to undermine national sovereignty. “Hungary just protects its children from gender ideology and hypersexualization,” something that’s being “funded and promoted” by the EU, Inselvini said. 

In contrast, the MEP noted, the Parliament is silent about the recent arrest of two activists in Brussels — ‘Billboard Chris’ and his companion, Lois McLatchie—for silently standing on a square with a sign that read “Children cannot consent to puberty blockers.”

From the ESN group, MEP Zsuzsanna Borvendég began by saying that Hungarians are not homophobic; they only insist on keeping their traditional values, which protect and strengthen social cohesion. Accordingly, the freedom of assembly cannot be unlimited, but must be subject to societal responsibilities.

“It’s completely absurd to portray the legislation as a grave violation of fundamental rights. The freedom of assembly cannot be more important than the protection of our children from deviant behaviors and sexual exploitation,” Borvendég said.

You’re not fighting for the oppressed, but supporting a lobby financed by global networks, while waging a political battle against a country that’s defending its sovereignty. These debates are not about ‘European values,’ but the destruction of Europe’s true diversity and the elimination of the self-determination of nations.