Good morning. In 1997, Budapest became the first capital in central and eastern Europe to hold a Pride parade. Three decades later, the march is firmly established as Hungary’s biggest LGBTQ+ event, and,in the words of one opposition MP, “a vital expression of joy, resistance and visibility”.
On Saturday, Budapest Pride took on the illiberal ambitions of Viktor Orbán and, rainbow flags flying high under a cloudless blue sky, as many as 200,000 marchers from 30 countries – the biggest turnout ever –were there to say it won. At least, for the time being.
Portraying themselves as the champions of traditional Christian and family values, the EU’s disruptor-in-chief and his ruling national-conservative Fidesz party have, for more than a decade, led a determined crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights. This year they banned Pride, sparking a powerful backlash from organisers, rights campaigners and European politicians, dozens of whom marched in solidarity.
For today’s newsletter, with European community affairs correspondentAshifa Kassam, we look at why Orbán’s crusade against “woke culture” led to the ban, how it went ahead anyway, what led key EU figuresfinallyto stand up to him – and what might happen now, inHungaryand beyond. That’s after the headlines.
Welfare|Vicky Foxcroft, the Labour whip who resigned in protest against disability benefit cuts, has said Keir Starmer’s concessions do not yet go far enough to win her over, as No 10 launched a fresh attempt tostem the revolt against its welfare bill.
NHS|Britain’s health service is estimated to be spending £50m a year on the effects of poverty and deprivation.One senior NHS figure saidthere were “medieval” levels of illnesses among poorer communities
Glastonbury| The organisers of Glastonbury have said they are “appalled” by comments made by Bob Vylan after the punk duo appeared to incite violence, something the festivalsaid went against its ethosof “hope, unity, peace and love”.
Environment| Wildlife activists who exposed horrific conditions at Scottish salmon farms were subjected to surveillance by private spies-for-hire, including being followed and photographed,the Guardian can reveal.
Weather| Today’s temperature in the UK is expected to rise to 34C,just short of the recordfor the hottest ever June day, 35.6C, recorded in Southampton in 1976.
UntilViktor Orbánand Fidesz were elected to government, Hungary was a progressive beacon in Europe’s former eastern bloc, repealing discriminatory laws and, in 2007, legalising same-sex civil partnerships.
But progress since has been dramatically reversed. As far-right parties surge across the continent and global resistance to sexual and gender freedoms grows, Budapest has become a leading player in Europe’s culture wars, and Pride its choicest target. Here’s how that happened, and how it played out.
How and why has Hungary clamped down on LGBTQ+ rights?
Accusations Orbán has weakened the country’s democratic institutions, undermined the rule of law and, in Brussels blocked pretty much every common European initiative of which he disapproves, are well known. Perhaps less familiar is the crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights he has led since becoming prime minister 15 years ago.
Within a year, backed by a two-thirds parliamentary majority, his government had passed a new constitution banning same-sex marriage, with later changes barring same-sex adoption and legally defining the family unit as heterosexual marriage. “The basis of the family is marriage and/or the parent-child relationship. The mother is a woman and the father is a man,” it now reads.
In 2021,the government went further, passing so-called “child protection legislation” barring any “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality or gender change to minors – effectively banning LGBTQ+ people from featuring in school educational materials, films, adverts or TV shows aimed at the under-18s.
Earlier this year, parliament passedyet more new legislation, this time amending the country’s law on assembly to make it an offence to hold or attend events – such as Pride – that violate the “child protection” measures, and authorising facial recognition software to identify and fine people in the crowd.
Likeother populist far-rightgovernments, Ashifa Kassam said, Hungary has “sought to make the LGBT community a scapegoat, much like migrants. And it’s having real repercussions. We’re seeing more violence against LGBTQ+ communities, more fear among trans people and suicide rates that are going up. It’s a scary trend.”
So how come the march went ahead?
The latest restrictionssparked protestsamong Hungary’s LGBTQ+ community and an outpouring of support beyond it. Amnesty International criticised them as a “full-frontal attack on Hungary’s LGBTI community” and “blatant violation” of free speech and assembly obligations; more than 120,000 people from 73 countries signed its petition calling on police to allow the march to go ahead peacefully.
“Everyone should be able to be who they are, live and love freely. The right to gather peacefully is a fundamental right to be championed across the EU,” Hadja Lahbib, the EU’s commissioner for equality, said. Hungarian police, however, confirmed it was now illegal to attend this year’s Pride. People attending the parade could be fined between 6,500 and 200,000 forints (€16 and €500 euros), they said, while organisers could face up to a year in prison.
Cue the liberal mayor of Budapest, Gergely Karácsony, long a fierce critic of the government’s far-right rhetoric,who found a legal loophole. The gathering would go ahead, he said, because as long as it was organised by city hall, police would not be able to intervene: municipal events do not require official authorisation.
Still, the government persisted. Days before the march, Hungary’s justice minister, Bence Tuzson, wrote to 33 foreign embassies that had jointly backed LGBTQ+ rights, warning them to stay away: “The legal situation is clear: the Pride parade is a legally banned assembly,” he said. “Those who take part in an event prohibited by the authorities commit an infraction.”
But Pride organisers hit back with a letter of their own, insisting the march was “neither banned nor unlawful”. Upping the ante further, 20 EU governments also signed a collective statement criticising the ban – and more than 70 MEPs promised to participate in the parade.
In the event, they were joined by the vice-president of the European parliament, the Dutch education minister, the Spanish culture minister, the former Belgian prime minister Elio Di Rupo, the mayors of Brussels and Amsterdam, and more.
“In short, Budapest Pride 2025 became a sort of red line,” said Ashifa. “It really symbolises something – a rallying call for the resistance, a chance to stand up against this wider rollback of rights that is becoming so blatant.”
Where do the politics come into it?
There is, obviously, no love lost between Orbán’s Hungary and the EU. Budapest is denied access to €18bn in EU funds over rule-of-law concerns related mainly to issues such as corruption and the treatment of asylum seekers.
The commission has began proceedings over the 2021 “child protection” law, and is “looking at” the assembly law (article 2 of the treaty of the EU, remember, says the bloc is founded on respect for human dignity in societies where “pluralism, non-discrimination [and] tolerance prevail”.)
But the commission and its president, Ursula von der Leyen, were “slow to get involved,” Ashifa said. “As always, the line is: we’ll just give Orbán ammunition.”
Last week von der Leyenfinally spoke up, calling on Budapest to “allow Pride to go ahead”. Orbán duly replied that the commission president “thinks she can dictate to Hungarians from Brussels how they should live”.
A domestic factor may also play into Orbán’s calculations: for months now, he has been trailing opposition leader Péter Magyar and his centre-right Tisza party in the polls. Magyar has studiously avoided comment on the whole LGBTQ+ issue, fearing a trap designed to cost him conservative voters in elections due next April.
“Orbán could well have been aiming to push Magyar into a corner, force him to take a stand on a contentious issue, allowing Orbán peel off voters in rural areas that will be critically important next spring,” Ashifa said. “But he’s resisted.”
What happens next?
The presence of so many European politicians may make waves in Brussels (although don’t hold your breath). The commission is already examining Budapest’s use of real-time facial recognition technology, which digital and human rights groups say represents a “a glaring violation” of the EU AI Act.
In Hungary, the fact that so many marchers said they were there not just to defend the LGBTQ+ community but to protest against the government’swider crackdown on democratic freedoms, and the sheer size of the parade – organisers put it at between 180,000 and 200,000, against to a previous record of 35,000 – will, at the very least, be an embarrassment for Orbán.
Sign up toFirst Edition
Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters
after newsletter promotion
Quite what he does about it remains to be seen. The prime minister said before the march that Hungary was a “civilised country” and police would not “break up” the parade – but he also promised “legal consequences”.
Repercussions for marchers may well start once attention has moved away, Ashifa predicted, with Orbán keen to stoke divisions ahead of the election. “Fines could start hitting in a few months’ time. We might see a more insidious clamping down,” she said.
“People are genuinely worried about a possible impact on their jobs and studies. It shows how far-reaching the government’s tentacles are.”
Guardian politics trio Pippa Crerar, Jessica Elgot and Peter Walker teamed up forthis blow-by-blow accountof where it all went wrong for Labour over the welfare bill– and the souring relationship betweenKeir Starmer and his backbenchers.Charlie Lindlar, acting deputy editor, newsletters
His testicles throbbed in time to roots reggae and he got offered the potent drug DMT.GlastonburyvirginAdrian Chilesproves that it’s still possible to get into trouble/alternate realities at the legendary festival.Alex Needham, acting head of newletters
Inthis week’s big idea column, Laura Spinney provocatively ponders: should wegive babies the vote? “It’s not as if we’re asking babies to make policy,” she suggests. “They may vote badly, whatever that means, but again, so do many adults.”Charlie
Keira Alexandra Kronvold had to give up her newborn daughter two hours after giving birth to her after undergoing a “parenting test” by the Danish authorities that disproportionately failed Greenlandic women, asthis shocking piece by Miranda Bryantlays bare.Alex
Great dates, one would think, do not involve being told off for looking at your phone. Can this week’sblind date, between doctor Tope and software engineer Eden, turn it around?You bet.Charlie
Football| England beat Jamaica 7-0in a thrilling friendly in Leicester, their final game before the European championships in Zurich last week. Ella Toone scored twice.
Formula One| Lando Norris won the Austrian Grand Prixafter a tense battlewith McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. World champion Max Verstappen was knocked out of the race on the opening lap.
Tennis| Emma Raducanusaid that she had no expectationsfor her performance at Wimbledon this year, but that she hoped to embrace the occasion. She plays Mimi Xu in today’s first round.
TheGuardianleads with an exclusive: “Rebel Labour whip calls for more welfare concessions”. TheTimeshas “PM battles to stave off revolt over welfare cuts”, while theFinancial Timessays “Starmer faces backbench showdown despite rowing back over welfare bill”.
After an act at Glastonbury appeared to incite violence during their performance, theTelegraphsays “Hate rapper ‘must be treated like Connolly’”. TheMailfollows the same story, with “BBC chiefs ‘should face charges’ over Glastonbury”, while theSunhas “PM: No excuse for BBC hate”.
Theireports “NHS weight-loss jabs from your pharmacy under new obesity plan”. Finally theMirrorlooks ahead to what could be the hottest day of the year with “Heat is on”.
What to watch, read and listen to this summer
Nosheen Iqbaltalks to our culture criticsBen Beaumont-Thomas,Catherine ShoardandDavid Shariatmadariabout thehottest music, film and books this summer.
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
Everyone loves a good deal – and even better, agreatdeal that feels like your own special life hack.
Behold, then,this Guardian listof 42 “genius ways to beat the system” compiled by Laura Whateley. Whether its grabbing free coffee, bagging a table at that hard-to-book restaurant or blagging an upgrade (once you get past the anxiety of asking), our guide will save you time and money.
Sign up herefor a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.
Quick crossword
Cryptic crossword
Wordiply