Love Without Permit: Budapest Pride and the Struggle for Visibility

Budapest Pride as a Political Symbol

For three decades, Budapest Pride has been the largest annual public event promoting human rights in Hungary. From a celebration of visibility and equality, it has now become a test of endurance against an authoritarian government. In 2025, instead of a permit, the organisers received a ban. The police invoked recent legislation on ‘child protection’, using it as a cover for censorship. Although liberal mayor Gergely Karasony declared that Pride would take place as a municipal event that did not require a permit, the authorities insisted on the ban. At the same time, the government used provisions on ‘offending the moral development of minors’ as a legal basis for criminalising participation — with fines of up to 200,000 forints (5); (4); (1).

The shift of Pride from a free march to an ‘illegal gathering’ was accompanied by the threat of surveillance through facial recognition technologies, which have now been institutionalised as part of the mechanism of repression. As noted by Amnesty International, whose Greek office also participated in the ‘Let Pride March’ campaign:

“A large number of people are expected to take to the streets peacefully and they must be allowed to demonstrate safely… The parade should continue unhindered and the police response… should be fully in line with human rights”.

Image credit: Yorgos Karagiorgos.

Under no circumstances should the ban on Pride be seen as an exclusively internal political incident, but as a direct challenge to the European legal and moral framework. Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union guarantees freedom of assembly and prohibits discrimination. This year, however, Pride organisers openly state that they are threatened with targeting, violence and financial exhaustion because they insist on taking to the streets. As a spokesperson for the organisation told the AP, the government’s goal is to ‘create scapegoats and silence critics of the regime’ (3); (6); (2). Even so, Pride does not seem to be losing momentum, according to a statement by Katalin Cseh, a member of the Hungarian opposition: The European Commission and council remain hesitant, divided and timid. This is not just a moral failure – it is a strategic one. The EU may be the last functioning democratic project of global scale. And it is being tested. As democratic backsliding accelerates worldwide, Europe faces a simple question: can it defend its own values? Or will it fold? […] If we don’t respond collectively, publicly and decisively, we will wake up to find the authoritarian turn complete (1).

Big Brother in the Square

In Hungary of 2025, freedom is now linked to cameras, new legislation allows the police to use facial recognition technology to identify individuals participating in ‘illegal’ events, such as Budapest Pride. This means that simply attending a demonstration can result in an administrative penalty or, in practice, the creation of an ideological identity file. The use of this technology, previously only permitted for searching for missing persons or criminals, is now being extended to peaceful protesters, under the pretext of protecting children (7); (3); (2).

The logic is clear and dangerous: policing dissent is no longer limited to the physical present but extends to the digital footprint. As Ádám Remport of the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU) pointed out: “One of the most fundamental problems is its invasiveness, just the sheer scale of the intrusion that happens when you apply mass surveillance to a crowd,” […] “More salient in this case is the effect on the freedom of assembly, specifically the chilling effect that arises when people are scared to go out and show their political or ideological beliefs for fear of being persecuted,” (7).

©Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

In this context, the very concept of freedom is distorted. It is not only your body that is banned from the streets – your desire to express yourself is also being monitored. Amnesty International points out that the suppression of Pride and the widespread use of surveillance tools are part of a pattern of violations that strikes at the heart of the right to protest:

“In a report published in July 2024, Amnesty International documented a series of trends and patterns of restrictions and violations of the right to protest in 21 EU countries. Protests have been a powerful tool for change, and it is important to protect them”.

Hungary thus presents a technologically equipped authoritarianism that invests not only in violence but also in intimidation through surveillance. The ban on protest is enforced not with batons but with cameras. And the government’s goal is no longer just to silence – it is to intimidate memory (3); (8).

Silent Presence, Uninterrupted March

The march that the Orbán government is trying to ban is not just a parade. It is a journey to the very heart of democracy – the right to exist in public, to assert oneself, to not be ashamed of loving. When the state declares love illegal and monitors protests with cameras, it is not just a community that is threatened; it is the very concept of freedom itself.

But no matter how hard they try to silence the voices, they cannot erase the presence. Mass mobilisation, international support and growing resistance show that even when voices are silenced, the march continues. Without shouting, but with determination. Without permission, but with dignity. As the mayor of Budapest said: ‘Neither love nor freedom can be banned’ (5).

Ultimately, what is at stake is not just the outcome of a Pride parade, but Europe’s very ability to protect its meaning. If the EU cannot defend the right to peaceful assembly on its territory, then what remains of its treaties? As Amnesty International-Greece notes:

“The defence of fundamental rights must be translated into action. The European Commission must act quickly. […] It is time to break this deadlock. As defenders of human rights, we will continue to demand equality and fight for a life free of discrimination.” 

On the streets of Budapest, where celebrations are not allowed this year, mere existence becomes an act of political resistance. You don’t need to shout. Just walking down the street is enough.