Orbán tried to ban Budapest Pride. This happened instead.

According to the photographer, this crowd continued flowing for 1.5 hours after the picture was snapped.

They shouldn’t put that much stress on the bridge. I wouldn’t get on it with that many other people on it.

R2 Just looking at that photo sends me into a panic attack. I would need about 4 Xanax to survive a crowd like that.

My God. This looks like a fatal crowd crushing about to happen.

I think the main point here is more how many people turned out against their shitty president than the structural integrity of a bridge…

Haters don't understand that oppression makes LGBTQ+ people stronger.

Orban isn't a president, r5.

It's cool that people are striking back against Orban, but many were from outside of Hungary.

R6, I bet about 10% of the people on the march were gay and the vast majority were straight. The "LGBTQ+" nonsense is precisely what made it so easy for Orban to pass anti-gay measures, especially once the useless local gay groups got taken over by TQ+ interests.

Orban is hideously ugly, inside and out. He is almost as bad as you know who.

R2 and R3 is why Americans will get an entrenched authoritarian dictatorship for generations and will just learn to live with it.

R8 So we should have less straight allies? Cause that will help our cause?

R10 Oh, I march. I just take my Xanax first.

Early headcounts reporting over 100,000.

[quote]less straight allies

Fewer.

This reminds me of the 50th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge which was closed for cars and allowed only pedestrians. The normally curved suspension bridge flattened. I could see it from a distance from the VA Hospital. I refused to go but my partner went. He got stuck in the crowd for what seemed like hours. I think that this was before cell phones and internet, so the crowd was unaware that the bridge looked like it could collapse.

Have lived all my life in SF but have never walked onto the GG Bridge due to Acrophobia and the fact that it's suspended over the freaking ocean. I have walked across two bridges in Budapest, however, which are tiny by comparison. Gorgeous city, btw, but homophobic and no visible gay presence in the 2000's.

That is the reason the word wow was invented.

R8, what do you mean by "less allies"? Do you mean physically smaller allies? Or perhaps allies who are less allied?

In any case, gay rights (what some are trying to turn into the anti-gay oxymoron of "LGBTQ+ rights") was just one - and perhaps not the most prominent - of the reasons the straight people were protesting. Perhaps the most important was to strike back Orban's attempt to limit the right to freedom of assembly, which is why the march was so big this year. Some were also there for "inclusivity" and "diversity", without any specific gay reference.

But, it has been the case for many years now that, just as Gay Prides in other countries and cities have been taken over by people seeking to promote non-gay and often anti-gay issues (from the TQ+ to corporations), in Hungary and Budapest Gay Pride has been more about an anti-Orban protest, attended more by straight people protesting against Orban in general, not just on gay issues. As someone who hates what has happened to Gay Pride in other countries, I actually think it's good that straight people are using Gay Pride as a general protest against Orban.

My partner is Hungarian and his homophobic laws have a real impact on my life in many unpleasant ways. He is a horrible man and I believe his time will soon be up (albeit not soon enough). Even so, I don't think the next non-Fidesz government will prioritise or even be that supportive of gay issues.

I hate the view that "well, are you surprised the straight hate gay people when you look at the TQ stuff?!"

Yes. Because those people should be able to tell the difference without it being spelt out for them. In fact, they DO know the difference.

But they pretend not to because it makes their homophobia more palatable (or so they think).

It really annoys me when gay people spread that view and essentially do their bidding.

I'm gay and if someone solely dislikes me because of trans people, they can fuck off. I'm not gonna say "oh yes, you poor person, I totally understand why you dislike gay people and feel it necessary to slur us".

As someone said earlier, oppression just makes us kick back more.

Well said R18. The people who hate trans people, hate us gays too.

He's the leader of the country, r7. The fact that someone called him president isn't the clever gotcha that you think it is.

Nice "outsider agitator" lie. That's some vintage misinformation.

Around 100k attended the march. I think he didn't crack down on them mostly because so many foreign MPs and MEPs attended it, would have been a dictator mask-off moment instantly.

The closer number was apparently 230k to 300k, AP went with the lower estimate.

[quote]It's cool that people are striking back against Orban, but many were from outside of Hungary.

From where R7?

I was there maybe 14 years ago for a city break with some friends during Pride. We didn’t realise it was Pride weekend before arriving. The far right counter protestors back then were very scary. I imagine it’s much worse now. It was eye-opening for me.

All that Austro-Hungarian sizemeat heating up in the blazing sun.

Orbán and the Fidesz party always lose the vote in Budapest. They've never had a Fidesz mayor and Orbán would lose the election as PM if it was up to Budapest. They have a liberal mayor who made sure that Pride happened. While there were some EMPs and a few other foreign dignitaries celebrating, they only amounted to a drop in the bucket as far as those massive crowds are concerned. Most are the people of Budapest who are disgusted with their prime minister. He will likely lose the election next year unless he manages to rig it.

r23 A mentioned above, lots of supportive MPs, MEPs, and mayors came over from other EU countries. It's probably what saved the march from ending horribly in a brutal police crackdown. Beating up your own people is one thing, but beating up the mayor of Amsterdam while you're at it is quite another.

*I should note that, like r26 already mentioned, these foreigners were a drop in the bucket. It's not like they represented anywhere near the majority of attendees, so it's not really an issue. Besides, anyone in the EU is free to attend any other march in any other EU country.

Good for them and thanks to the straight people who came out, either to support Pride or to defy the dictator.

This is amazing!!! So proud of Hungarians for standing up to a dictator.

One of the bravest men in Hungary is the openly gay Marton Gulyas, who created the independent online TV channel "Partizan." They are very critical of the Orbán government and always in danger of getting shut down:

Orban isn't a "dictator", r30. He's a moron, but dictator is not the right word for him, even though I know it's trendy in the US.

The police don't really beat people up in Hungary, r27.

R18, I never said straight people hate us because of the TQ+ stuff, but it's a lot easier to pass anti-gay stuff when it's associated in people's minds with men in women's toilets and giving kids puberty blockers.

R20, it is significant that Orban isn't a president but is instead a prime minister because the type of power that prime ministers wield is far less than that wielded by presidents and a parliamentary system operates differently.

Orban said there will be legal consequence for attending the pride march.

[quote] Attendees risk a fine of up to €500 (£427; $586), with police empowered to use facial recognition technology to identify them.

[quote] Organizers could face a one-year prison sentence.

These threats were probably one reason so many non-gay people turned out. The heavy-handedness makes people angry.

Yes, r36, many people were protesting against the attack on the right to freedom of assembly.

Beautiful turnout. And I'm glad nothing happened with the bridge. Not just for the sake of those marching, but for the fact it would have been a big propaganda opportunity by the anti-gay folks. ("Look at those predators getting struck down for what they deserve!" and other bullshit)

R26, wasn't István Tarlós, the previous mayor of Budapest before Gergely Karácsony, a Fidesz mayor?

R35 Obfuscation. Orban is solidly authoritarian. Courts and legislators completely in his shadow. 15 years now. And counting.

The scope of this demonstration is (like the No Kings demonstrations here a few weeks ago) is some of the best news for gay folk. The Supreme Court ruling on Friday absolutely cleared the way for national efforts to take away same sex marriage, and other liberty protections. Within a few years "no gay teachers", no gay porn, no gay non-profits... all possible, all aligned with the Project 2025 that is the roadmap for the current regime in DC.

I believe you, R40.

r38 The fact the bridge did not collapse is a nod to some truly fine [chef's kiss] civil engineering. 🏗🌁📐

Excellent

BEAUTIFUL!!

[quote]it is significant that Orban isn't a president but is instead a prime minister because the type of power that prime ministers wield is far less than that wielded by presidents and a parliamentary system operates differently.

Yeah, that's why prime minister Netanyahu has so little power compared to Israeli president whatsisname.

That bridge somehow not collapsing feels like some Jewish biblical miracle story that would get its own holiday.

You can really tell the median age here when most of the comments are about the bridge’s capacity.

[quote]You can really tell the median age here when most of the comments are about the bridge’s capacity.

Neurodiversity central

R47 😂😂

[quote]You can really tell the median age here when most of the comments are about the bridge’s capacity.

It was set by OP as the thread focus: "They actually had to turn off the music so that everyone crossing the bridge would not unintentionally march in-step, threatening the integrity of the bridge." It's not unusual on DL to have a thread about a tangential focus instead of what should be the main topic for an event.

Pathetic that the GOP is trying to model the country after the Christo-Fascist Orban’s methods—use kids to make anything LGBTQ illegal.

Hungary has the economy of Mississippi. Why emulate that?

Yes, it's a very stagnant country in every way.

R51, because of the grift