For the third time this year the 26. Budapest Pride Festival is 1 month long. With the slogan of Budapest Bride March - “Claim back your future!” - we try to respond to the anxiety and apathy present in society. We believe that the best answer to this is community action and we encourage everyone to do the same!
However, Pride is not just about celebration, Pride is a protest as well. It is a protest against the Putin-style homophobic propaganda law, hateful posters, against the consitutional stigmatizing of transgender people, on the ban of legal conversion, against the adoptation difficulties, and the abolition of the Equal Treatment Authority, and the percistent homophobic, inciting, hateful public discourse.
That's why we're looking forward to the 26th Budapest Pride March on 24th July, now it's time to present the full program.
As you may already know, we are waiting for you on Saturday, 24th, from 2pm in Madách Square. The programs start at 3pm, with speeches, music, and then the long-awaited departure! DJ Laszlo Lacika plays music from Pride's truck on the spot and during the march. Avoid the area around the Erzsébet Bridge and the Andrássy Avenue and Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Street before the start of the March.
And how should you arrive? We would recommend that you take metro lines 1 and 2 to Deák Square and approach Madách Square from there, or arrive from Astoria. If you are coming from Nyugati Square and Oktogon, you would rather get on the Földalatti (metro line 1, yellow).
Program at Madách Square:
- 14:00 Gathering and music program
- 15:00 Speeches, departure
You should expect the following speakers at Madách Square:
- Csikós Ádám (Budapest Pride organiser),
- Terry Reintke (Member of European Parliament, LGBTI Intergroup).
After the speeches, we start at full throttle, the march heads on Astoria, then Kálvin Square, and Fővám Square, it crosses the Duna on Szabadság Bridge, turns right to Szent Gellért Quay, and it arrives in Tabán via Döbrentei Square. At the front of the March, after the truck of Budapest Pride, there will be that huge rainbow flag, which we made back in 2019 from your donations to protest against the homophobic speeches of Kövér László (Acting President of Hungary). At Fővám Square you can touch the giant heart which had been exhibited earlier at Kossuth Square by Amnesty International Hungary and Háttér Society.
The program of Tabán:
- 17:00 Scheduled arrival
- 17:00-18.00 Speeches
- 17:00-20.00 Civil Village
- 20:00 End of the programs
You should expect the following speakers in Tabán:
- Lang Györgyi (host),
- Hegedűs Máté (Budapest Pride organiser),
- Vladimir Luxuria (the first transgender representative of Member of European Parliament),
- Hegedűs Emmett (transgender teenager),
- Szél Bernadett (Member of Parliament),
- Vay Blanka (activist of Prizma Transgender Community),
- Karácsony Gergely (mayor of Budapest).
The musical responsibilities are handed over by DJ Laszlo Lacika to the DJ duo Bianca Lujza, who play in the Civil Village, while you can meet associations and non-governmental organizations that do very important work. It's worth getting to know them: ADOM Student Movement, ALTALAP - Alternatíva Fundation Amnesty International Hungary, Cifra LMBTQ Community Kecskemét, Diverse Youth Network, Háttér Society, Keresztények a Melegekért (“Christians for the Gays”), School of Public Life Fundation, Parents and relatives of LGBTQIA persons (SUPPORTIVE PARENTS), Hungarian Asexual Community, LGBTQ Section of the Hungarian Psychological Association, Menedék — Hungarian Association for Migrants, Women For Women Together Against Violence Association (NANE), Teachers for LGBTQIA+ children, Poliamoria Hungary, Szabad Terek, Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, UNHCR - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Central European Regional Office.
We really hope you don't completely drown out during the trip, or if you do, you can relax for the evening, because the March would not be complete without the Rainbow Party, which awaits you in Budapest Park, from 10 pm until dawn the next day!
If you haven't already done so, you can attend to the event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/604645210112915
Before, during and shortly after the March, the car traffic on the affected route will be suspended, and the BKKs public service will also be diverted, please get some information about this before departure!
We provide a great atmosphere, good company, freedom, and we take great care of your safety, but pay attention to a few things too! Bring water with you - leave the glass bottles at home, we can't let them in - sunscreen, a colorful flag, a creative banner, an umbrella, some snacks and what's even more important in Tabán, a mosquito repellent!
And please study the rules of the Pride March! https://budapestpride.com/news/the-26th-budapest-pride-marchs-rules-of-the-house
