Note to supporters (February 2026): This petition has been updated to reflect the latest developments in Hungary, including criminal charges and prosecutions linked to Pride events. The core demand remains unchanged: urgent EU action to defend fundamental rights and freedom of assembly.

Update – January 28, 2026: Hungary's Pride ban has now moved from threat to punishment. Authorities have charged the Mayor of Budapest for helping organize last year's Budapest Pride March, and criminal proceedings have been launched against the lead organizer of Pécs Pride for holding a peaceful rural Pride event despite police bans. For the first time in the European Union, public officials and civil society organizers are being prosecuted simply for defending the right to peaceful assembly and LGBTQ+ visibility. This is a direct assault on democracy. When governments punish people for gathering peacefully, everyone's freedoms shrink. The European Commission was warned. Now the consequences are real.

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Hungary’s government has launched its most aggressive attack yet on LGBTQ+ rights.

In March, Hungary’s Parliament rushed through a new law banning Pride marches and criminalizing peaceful protest. Just one day later, the President signed it into law. The legislation expands the reach of Hungary’s notorious 2021 “anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda” law – already under review by the European Court of Justice.

Now, those who dare to take to the streets face police intimidation, crushing fines, and the looming threat of facial recognition surveillance – a dangerous violation of privacy and dignity that directly contradicts the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act, which bans such mass surveillance in public spaces.

In 2025, Pride events went ahead in defiance of the bans, and the government has since responded by prosecuting organizers and officials who helped protect peaceful assembly. Organizers now face criminal prosecution and potential prison sentences of up to one year.

This law doesn’t protect children. It protects power.

While Hungary faces real challenges – like a child welfare crisis, healthcare shortages, and a crumbling education system – the government has chosen to scapegoat LGBTQ+ people and choke civil society. These actions echo the oppressive tactics of Russia, where dissent is criminalized and LGBTQ+ lives erased. For the first time in EU history, we are witnessing a country criminalizing its citizens' right to peaceful assembly, to be seen and to be heard.

An EU government banning Pride marches is an unconscionable attack on the very values of freedom, equality, and human dignity that the European Union was built to protect.

By signing this petition, you are standing for the right to march, to gather, to speak out. You are telling the EU loud and clear: Pride is not a crime. Peaceful protest is not propaganda. Visibility is not violence.

The European Commission is the guardian of the Treaties of the EU. The Commission needs to demonstrate that it protects the right for peaceful assembly as much as other fundamental rights.

✊ Sign now to stop this assault on LGBTQ+ rights and freedom to protest. Don’t let Orbán bulldoze democracy. Stand with us. Stand with Budapest Pride.

Timeline: How Hungary's Pride ban escalated into criminal prosecutions

• March–May 2025 – Hungary passed new laws banning Pride marches and expanding its 2021 "anti-LGBT+ propaganda" law to criminalize peaceful protest. Police began blocking LGBTQ+ demonstrations using vague justifications, even when courts overturned bans.
• June 2025 – Despite police prohibitions, over 200,000 people marched in Budapest Pride, turning it into one of the largest civil rights protests in Hungary's history. EU leaders acknowledged the ban violated fundamental freedoms, but no immediate legal action followed.
• Summer 2025 – Authorities shifted from banning events to targeting individuals. Budapest's mayor was questioned by police after declaring Pride a municipal event to protect the march.
• October 2025 – Police summoned the lead organizer of Pécs Pride as a criminal suspect for holding Hungary's only rural Pride march despite official bans.
• December 2025–January 2026 – Prosecutors formally charged the Mayor of Budapest for helping organize the Pride march, marking a new phase where public officials and civil society leaders face criminal punishment for defending peaceful assembly.

What began as a ban has become the criminalization of protest itself. Sign the petition now.