Guest blog by Director of British Council Hungary Simon Ingram-Hill
Last Saturday was Gay Pride Parade, and the third I have now been on in Budapest. Quite why it is called a parade I am not sure, more of a stop-start amble but a lot of fun all the same. I was there to represent the UK’s commitment and give support to this event and human rights in general.
I walked with a colleague from one of the other 18 embassies which had just issued a press declaration in support of LGBTQ communities. And we talked to a number of fellow “paraders” along the way, mentioning our own embassy affiliations – that seemed important.
There were some 8-10,000 of us, a record turn-out apparently. We walked along Andrássy from Heroes’ Square to Olympia park near Parliament, and there was very much the carnival atmosphere not quite Rio but definitely fun.
This has been the trend I have noticed – it now feels like an established event with less tension year on year. I didn’t see any helmeted policemen this time, and, though security was very much in evidence, it was more low-key. But it was definitely there, with the whole of the route sealed off to keep protesters out. Last year I thought this was a shame – let everyone mingle and interact, was my view. This time I wasn’t so sure – I got up quite close to take this pic – and you can see, there’s a lot of aggression on the other side of the fence.
That said, it’s incredibly important that such parades can take place, they can’t everywhere by any means even in Europe – and one can only hope, little by little that they become more readily accepted, perhaps even un-necessary.
As last year, the parade finished with a number of speeches and performances. MEP Ulricke Lunack spoke movingly of her own story and highlighting in her case, the significance of “coming out” (one reason being to forestall any possibility of blackmail. Others stressed the importance of such events and increasing participant numbers year on year with the hope that the PM himself would take part.
There’s still some way to go. And these events still need our support.
