Anonymous
6/29/2025, 5:24:41 AM No.40215429
https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/200000-march-in-budapest-pride-refusing
>In recent months, it has been easy for LGBTQ+ people to feel despair. Around the world, laws targeting queer and transgender existence have passed at alarming rates—and here in the United States, even acknowledging transgender people can risk the loss of federal funding. The situation is compounded by a Supreme Court increasingly willing to greenlight every overreach of executive power, leaving constitutional challenges without teeth. But as grim as things have become in the U.S., the crackdown in Hungary has been even more severe. There, the government has passed laws banning Pride festivities entirely, even amending its constitution to block any legal challenge to the ban. And yet, that is not where the story ends. While American institutions wrestle with their commitment to the LGBTQ+ community, Budapest has just shown the world how to fight back: led by the city’s mayor, more than 200,000 people defied the ban and marched for Pride anyway.
>The marchers crossed the Elisabeth Bridge, led by Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, who defiantly designated the parade an official city event despite threats from Hungary’s federal government. When it came time to address the crowd, he declared, “You don't look like you've been banned… You gave the finger to the pompous, hateful government.” Standing with him were members of the European Parliament, mayors from across Europe, and local organizers—including one person wearing a “Protect the Dolls” T-shirt, a phrase popularized by actor Pedro Pascal and musician Troye Sivan in support of transgender women.
>In recent months, it has been easy for LGBTQ+ people to feel despair. Around the world, laws targeting queer and transgender existence have passed at alarming rates—and here in the United States, even acknowledging transgender people can risk the loss of federal funding. The situation is compounded by a Supreme Court increasingly willing to greenlight every overreach of executive power, leaving constitutional challenges without teeth. But as grim as things have become in the U.S., the crackdown in Hungary has been even more severe. There, the government has passed laws banning Pride festivities entirely, even amending its constitution to block any legal challenge to the ban. And yet, that is not where the story ends. While American institutions wrestle with their commitment to the LGBTQ+ community, Budapest has just shown the world how to fight back: led by the city’s mayor, more than 200,000 people defied the ban and marched for Pride anyway.
>The marchers crossed the Elisabeth Bridge, led by Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony, who defiantly designated the parade an official city event despite threats from Hungary’s federal government. When it came time to address the crowd, he declared, “You don't look like you've been banned… You gave the finger to the pompous, hateful government.” Standing with him were members of the European Parliament, mayors from across Europe, and local organizers—including one person wearing a “Protect the Dolls” T-shirt, a phrase popularized by actor Pedro Pascal and musician Troye Sivan in support of transgender women.
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