In Hungary, Orban more fragile than ever after Pride

On May 27, 1988, a crowd carrying placards, blasting music, and singing marched from downtown Pest to Buda. Previously, under the communist dictatorship, it was inconceivable for thousands of people to take to the streets for a cause that only evil and/or stupid people could disapprove of. That specific cause was the environment. The demonstration protested the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros dams [on the Danube]. It became a nail in the coffin of this project, but also in the coffin of a dying dictatorship.

Protecting the rights of sexual minorities and other minority groups is also something that only very malicious and/or stupid people disagree with. But that's not the only reason why, on June 28, 2025, a crowd far larger than the one thirty-seven years ago marched from Deak Square to the Polytechnic University. It's also because the outdated autocracy, as is often the case with stagnant regimes, misjudged its own strength and public opinion. With the clumsy ban on Pride, the march for gay rights turned into a nationwide carnival for the right to assembly and freedom in general.

Unlike 1988