With the Pride Parade ban, tensions with the EU will only increase for Hungary

Hungary has every right, as a sovereign state, to block what it views as harmful to children. However, the ban on the Pride Parade could prove a headache that is not worth the risk for the Hungarian government.

Remix News often takes the position that the government in Hungary is making the right move in a variety of areas, including seeking peace in Ukraine, and above all, its principled stance in 2015/2016 that helped stem the migration crisis. Orbán was far ahead of his time, with EU leaders across the bloc increasingly coming around to his view on the issue — in many cases out of sheer political survival rather than any principled reevaluation of their damaging open borders policies.

The issue of the Pride Parade may play well with many Hungarians, but Hungary, even if it views itself as being in the right, must also always pick its battles. It just, for example, vetoed the accession of Ukraine into the EU, which was not only the right move for Hungary, but the right move for all of Europe. Nevertheless, Hungary’s fighting a multi-front war on many issues.

It is also fair to say, and Viktor Orbán has said this many times, that Hungary is a small power in the European Union, even if it does punch well above its weight. Focusing on handling the migration crisis, which has proven a threat to LGBT people due to an influx of people from cultures that are hostile to this community, should be tantamount — along with ending the war in Ukraine.

Hungary is also setting itself up for what could be some ugly images if the Budapest Pride Parade moves forward, as the mayor of Budapest is looking to do. Are the police going to block the parade? Are protesters going to push through? The left would love to see a confrontation of some sort. In the end, the best solution may be to simply allow the parade to move forward, noting it was conducted illegally.

Pride Parades have become a spectacle featuring some very disturbing, overly sexualized displays in the last 10 to 20 years. In many cases, actual naked men and also women have walked directly in front of children. This is not the behavior typically seen at any other parade, so why this one? In addition, there are people dressed in BDSM bondage gear, and other extremely sexualized displays have been put forward as “totally normal.” These are not exceptions, but routine displays at many Pride Parades. The LGBT community should be policing these kinds of sexualized displays themselves, as it only alienates people who see these images. In Budapest itself, there have also been some questionable displays in the past.

Orbán should move to ban all overtly sexual behavior at the parade, as this is perfectly in line with public ordinances seen across Europe. People cannot walk around naked on the streets of most European capitals, just as they cannot walk up to children on a playground and display themselves naked. The same rules should apply in Budapest as well. Orbán’s government could make a point that such displays will not be tolerated, while allowing for the Parade to move forward otherwise.

Orbán has often proven a maverick, and even the left respects him from a purely political point of view. Domestically, he remains the most popular ruling politician in Europe, and the longest-serving current prime minister. His political instincts have served him well, and much of the decision-making process that drives his Fidesz party is based on relentless polling to gauge what the Hungarian people want. As much as the European elite scream about a lack of democracy in Hungary, Orbán is a populist, which means that he generally follows what his people want on nearly all the biggest issues. That is probably a large reason he is so hated by the politicians in Europe, who do the exact opposite on many of the biggest issues, including immigration.

Europe should also meet Hungary halfway to some extent. There needs to be an understanding that in the East of Europe, not everyone is receptive to a certain brand of LGBT in their face, especially in the form of Pride Parade BDSM costumes. Even in the West of Europe, such displays are not welcome. It was also not so long ago that the West was conservative on these issues as well.

It is also important to note that Fidesz is not the only party ruling Hungary, but has a junior partner, the Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP). For that party, the issue of the Pride Parade may be even more relevant for its voting base.

Ultimately, LGBT people in Hungary live, almost universally, in peace. There is LGBT nightlife and culture, and LGBT people can walk the streets far more freely in Hungary than they can in many neighborhoods across the most “progressive” liberal capitals.

Although it remains a point of contention among the European right, many within the Western right see right-wing policies, such as immigration restriction, as a bulwark that will openly protect gays and lesbians in European countries. Alice Weidel, the lesbian co-leader of the AfD, who Orbán has a warm relationship with, is a case in point. We cannot say whether Weidel’s stance towards what she deems “LGBT ideology” is the view of a “silent majority” in the LGBT community,

Orbán himself may estimate that, as the leader of Hungary, political opinions from all the newspapers and politicians aligned against him anyway do not matter anymore. He is now forging ahead, and only time will tell if he is once again proven right. However, tension between Hungary and Brussels seems to be only on one trend line — towards more conflict — unless there is a major change of power at the top.

The post With the Pride Parade ban, tensions with the EU will only increase for Hungary appeared first on Remix News.

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