Budapest Pride?
June 22, 2011
June 18th, last Saturday, was the day of the pride march, one of the most significant events of the annual Budapest Pride Festival. The festival is a one week long celebration of homosexuality. It is a peaceful week of film screenings, presentations, and exhibitions, embracing homosexuality. One of its most anticipated traditions is a march from Heroes Square down Andrassy Ut, towards Oktogon.
I actually happened to be driving in the city on saturday, and I was surprised to see the massive amount of armed policemen crowding the streets. I found it a bit peculiar, to say the least.
However, it turns out that the police have been on patrol since friday night, since numerous protests against the gay march have been announced for the same day.
The march started at four pm., where about 2000 people gathered, representing and supporting lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders.
At Oktogon however, 250 protestors, many dressed in black and covering their faces, were waiting. They were chanting "mocskos buzik", loosely translated into "dirty gays".
A video of the protestors
To avoid the clash, the police led the homosexual march away from Oktogon, taking a slight detour. This way, violence was avoided. Although there was a little bit of a struggle between the protestors and the police...
If you are hungarian, I advise you watch this video by HVG (a local newspaper), it interviews Hungarian's on the streets on Saturday about their views on homosexuality, it is quite interesting.
Hungarians towards homosexuality
It becomes pretty clear though, that the acceptance of homosexuality is an obvious problem in this country today. Some Hungarians seem openly intolerant of people with different sexual orientations, which might create an uncomfortable or even hostile environment for homosexuals in budapest.
This is why next year, one of the focuses of our Global Issues group will be sexual diversity! :)
Hanna K.
I actually happened to be driving in the city on saturday, and I was surprised to see the massive amount of armed policemen crowding the streets. I found it a bit peculiar, to say the least.
However, it turns out that the police have been on patrol since friday night, since numerous protests against the gay march have been announced for the same day.
The march started at four pm., where about 2000 people gathered, representing and supporting lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders.
At Oktogon however, 250 protestors, many dressed in black and covering their faces, were waiting. They were chanting "mocskos buzik", loosely translated into "dirty gays".
A video of the protestors
To avoid the clash, the police led the homosexual march away from Oktogon, taking a slight detour. This way, violence was avoided. Although there was a little bit of a struggle between the protestors and the police...
If you are hungarian, I advise you watch this video by HVG (a local newspaper), it interviews Hungarian's on the streets on Saturday about their views on homosexuality, it is quite interesting.
Hungarians towards homosexuality
It becomes pretty clear though, that the acceptance of homosexuality is an obvious problem in this country today. Some Hungarians seem openly intolerant of people with different sexual orientations, which might create an uncomfortable or even hostile environment for homosexuals in budapest.
This is why next year, one of the focuses of our Global Issues group will be sexual diversity! :)
Hanna K.
Posted by Global Issues Budapest.