 "Hungarians protest pride ban with satirical rally against colours and diversity")
At a demonstration in central Budapest, thousands of Hungarians criticised right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s efforts to ban LGBTQ+ groups’ annual Pride march by dressing in grey and brandishing posters ironically decrying colours and diversity.
The gathering, organised by the Two-tailed Dog Party, a satirical organisation, comes after numerous earlier protests since Parliament, headed by Orban’s nationalist Fidesz party, enacted a bill last month prohibiting Pride on the grounds that it may be detrimental to children. The Pride March was scheduled to take place in late June.
While Fidesz claims to be preserving family values, many view the effort to outlaw Pride as part of a larger attack on democratic liberties ahead of the general election next year. Orban will face a strong opposition challenger, seen by some recent opinion polls as pulling ahead.
Protesters at Saturday’s rally carried banners saying “being uniform is cool” and “listen to your heart, death to colours”.
“I would strip them (LGBT people) of their right to assembly, because they are all criminals,” said Samuel Tar, who joined the demonstration with his friends, all dressed in grey.
“They would like to express themselves, which is very harmful. Only I should be allowed to express myself, no one else.”
The Two-tailed Dog Party said with heavy irony that it called the rally to support Orban’s efforts to stamp out diversity, saying this trumps all other issues in Hungary, including high inflation, a lack of affordable housing and the poor state of public services.
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More Shorts“Every problem in the world stems from diversity and individualism,” it said.
The party started out as a fringe movement nearly two decades ago and shot to prominence when its leader, Gergely Kovacs won a mayoral contest in a Budapest district last year, defeating Orban’s Fidesz in a former ruling party stronghold.
The party has no lawmakers in parliament and although it calls itself the only sensible choice in a deeply polarised society, it is unclear if it can build enough support to get into parliament next year.
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