Budapest Pride March Draws Huge Turnout After Orbán Defeat.

The march began Saturday afternoon as temperatures reached at least 38 C (100 F) amid a record-breaking heat wave that has gripped most of Europe. Organizers distributed water bottles to marchers, and the city’s public water utility opened fountains along the route.

According to participants, a new era has begun for Hungary’s LGBTQ+ community following 16 years of Orbán’s government. The march set off from Budapest’s iconic Opera House and wound through the city center before crossing the Erzsébet Bridge over the Danube River. Members of Hungary’s LGBTQ+ community and supporters danced to music and waved rainbow flags. Luca Új, who was participating in her third Pride event, said the mood felt more relaxed now that Orbán’s government had been defeated.

Saturday’s Pride march came a little more than a year after Orbán’s nationalist-populist government passed legislation and a constitutional amendment to outlaw the event, drawing criticism from human rights groups and politicians across the European Union. Yet, in open defiance of the ban, last year’s Pride went on as planned and was the biggest in Hungary’s history, with organizers estimating attendance at more than 350,000. Orbán was handily defeated in the April election by a center-right challenger, Prime Minister Péter Magyar, and his Tisza party.

The position of the newly elected prime minister, Péter Magyar, on LGBTQ+ rights remains ambiguous. He avoided the issue during the election campaign and did not attend Saturday’s Pride march. At the same time, he recently stated that "nobody should be stigmatised because of the way they love," leaving many uncertain about how his government will approach LGBTQ+ rights.

The massive turnout for the march, which the government had insisted for months would no longer be permitted, was seen as a major blow to Orbán’s prestige.