Green Party leader Roderic O’Gorman will take part in this weekend’s banned Pride march in Budapest along with other European politicians to show solidarity with Hungary’s LGBTI+ community.
Mr O’Gorman said Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has “chipped away” at LGBTI+ rights during his time in office and said: “The banning of pride is probably the most dramatic escalation of his attacks on the LGBTI+ community”.
Hungary’s government has passed a law restricting gatherings if they break child protection laws on public promotion of homosexuality.
The police in Budapest have banned the annual Pride march there.
However, the mayor, Hungarian Green Party politician Gergely Karacsony, has said there will be a Pride march on Saturday.
Mr O’Gorman criticised the law that led to the banning of the march, saying using an argument of child protection as a way of restricting the rights of the LGBTI+ community is “a playbook that far-right regimes and far-right organisations use all over the world”. He added: “It’s really important that we call it out.”
He said he experienced this during his ministerial career and was “constantly under attack” online “because I was a gay man who happened to be a minister for children”.
Mr O’Gorman said those marching in Budapest will do so under threat from the government’s law and the police ban, and will be risking a fine.
He said he did not know if police will seek to break up the event, but said: “All eyes will be on Budapest and the actions of the police and indeed the government will be under really close scrutiny.”
Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar is separately expected to speak at a different event in Budapest this week, the International Human Rights Conference for the Equality of the LGBTI+ Community.
