Latest news with #LGBTQRights
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Budapest mayor defies police ban on Pride march
Hungarian police on Thursday banned the country's main Pride march from taking place in Budapest on June 28 but the capital's mayor defied them, vowing it would still go ahead. Since Prime Minister Viktor Orban returned to power in 2010, Hungary has passed a series of laws which have been criticised at home and across the European Union for curtailing the rights of the country's sexual and gender minorities in the name of "child protection". "The police, acting within their authority over public assemblies, prohibit the holding of the assembly at the aforementioned location and time," the police said on their website. Police said the ban was necessary under recent legislation that bans the promotion of same-sex relationships to under-18s. They said any appeal against the decision must be lodged with the central European country's supreme court within three days. Budapest's liberal Mayor Gergely Karacsony vowed to hold the gathering despite the ban. He said the police decision had "no value" because the march did not require official authorisation anyway, as it was an event organised by the city council. "Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest Pride march on June 28 as a city event. Period," he wrote on Facebook. On Monday he had announced that Budapest city hall would organise the march in an attempt to sidestep the recently adopted law. - Mayor accused of 'cheating' - One senior government figure on Wednesday accused the mayor of "trying to cheat". "All events of this type have to be announced, and the police have the right to ban them," said Gergely Gulyas, head of Orban's office. "No serious legal expert would try to dispute that." In mid-March, the Hungarian parliament passed a bill aimed at banning any gathering that violates an anti-LGBTQ law adopted in 2021. The 2021 law prohibits the "display or promotion of homosexuality" to under-18s. In its decision published Thursday, police said that the march "by its very nature cannot be held without the representation" of people belonging to the LGBTQ community and that under-18s could be present along the route. "If it cannot be stated with absolute certainty that the display is not taking place in the presence of persons under 18 years of age, the assembly would be in breach of the ban," the police said. Hungarian lawmakers in April overwhelmingly backed constitutional changes that strengthened the legal foundations for banning the Pride march. - Pro-LGBTQ protests - The government said the annual event could be held at an enclosed location like a stadium, out of sight of children. The conflict over the Pride march has already sparked protests in Hungary. Thousands of people blocked bridges in the capital, demanding the ban be repealed. Several members of the European Parliament have said they will attend the parade. European equalities commissioner Hadja Lahbib is also due to attend the march, as are ministers from several European Union countries, the organisers said. Attendees risk a fine of up to 500 euros ($570), which the Hungarian authorities say will be channelled into "child protection" projects. Police may use facial recognition technology to identify them. ros-anb/jj/rlp
News.com.au
17 hours ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Budapest mayor defies police ban on Pride march
Hungarian police on Thursday banned the country's main Pride march from taking place in Budapest on June 28 but the capital's mayor defied them, vowing it would still go ahead. Since Prime Minister Viktor Orban returned to power in 2010, Hungary has passed a series of laws which have been criticised at home and across the European Union for curtailing the rights of the country's sexual and gender minorities in the name of "child protection". "The police, acting within their authority over public assemblies, prohibit the holding of the assembly at the aforementioned location and time," the police said on their website. Police said the ban was necessary under recent legislation that bans the promotion of same-sex relationships to under-18s. They said any appeal against the decision must be lodged with the central European country's supreme court within three days. Budapest's liberal Mayor Gergely Karacsony vowed to hold the gathering despite the ban. He said the police decision had "no value" because the march did not require official authorisation anyway, as it was an event organised by the city council. "Budapest city hall will organise the Budapest Pride march on June 28 as a city event. Period," he wrote on Facebook. On Monday he had announced that Budapest city hall would organise the march in an attempt to sidestep the recently adopted law. - Mayor accused of 'cheating' - One senior government figure on Wednesday accused the mayor of "trying to cheat". "All events of this type have to be announced, and the police have the right to ban them," said Gergely Gulyas, head of Orban's office. "No serious legal expert would try to dispute that." In mid-March, the Hungarian parliament passed a bill aimed at banning any gathering that violates an anti-LGBTQ law adopted in 2021. The 2021 law prohibits the "display or promotion of homosexuality" to under-18s. In its decision published Thursday, police said that the march "by its very nature cannot be held without the representation" of people belonging to the LGBTQ community and that under-18s could be present along the route. "If it cannot be stated with absolute certainty that the display is not taking place in the presence of persons under 18 years of age, the assembly would be in breach of the ban," the police said. Hungarian lawmakers in April overwhelmingly backed constitutional changes that strengthened the legal foundations for banning the Pride march. - Pro-LGBTQ protests - The government said the annual event could be held at an enclosed location like a stadium, out of sight of children. The conflict over the Pride march has already sparked protests in Hungary. Thousands of people blocked bridges in the capital, demanding the ban be repealed. Several members of the European Parliament have said they will attend the parade. European equalities commissioner Hadja Lahbib is also due to attend the march, as are ministers from several European Union countries, the organisers said. Attendees risk a fine of up to 500 euros ($570), which the Hungarian authorities say will be channelled into "child protection" projects. Police may use facial recognition technology to identify them.
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Budapest Mayor to Stage Pride Parade Over Orban's Opposition
Budapest's mayor said the Hungarian capital would organize this year's Pride parade under its own auspices to shield it from attempts by national authorities to ban the LGBTQ event. The announcement by mayor Gergely Karacsony, a prominent critic of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, followed a police decision earlier this month to reject a petition to hold the annual parade in Budapest. The police's move was in line with Orban's guidance and a recent law that casts the event as a threat to children's development.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Yahoo
Today in Chicago History: In a scene out of ‘Casino,' Spilotro brothers buried alive in Indiana cornfield
Here's a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on June 14, according to the Tribune's archives. Is an important event missing from this date? Email us. The Chicago flag design: History of every star — including one for the Great Chicago Fire — and stripe Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago) High temperature: 99 degrees (1987) Low temperature: 45 degrees (1997) Precipitation: 2.58 inches (1949) Snowfall: Trace (2002) 1949: One-time Chicago Cub Eddie Waitkus, by then with the Philadelphia Phillies, became the inspiration for 'The Natural' when he was shot in the Edgewater Beach Hotel by Ruth Ann Steinhagen, a 19-year-old fan. 1977: Eight people were arrested during Chicago's first major gay-rights protest. As many as 3,000 people showed up outside Medinah Temple to contest an appearance by Anita Bryant, a singer and orange juice spokesperson who led a successful drive to repeal a gay rights ordinance in Dade County, Florida. 1981: Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa visited Chicago. The 70-year-old founder of Missionaries of Charity decried abortion, counseled nuns to wear distinctive religious garb and supported the church's ban on the ordination of women to the priesthood. Canonized as a saint by Pope Francis in 2016, Mother Teresa urged Catholics to dedicate themselves to service. 'We need people today to consecrate their lives just to be the touch — just to be the sweetness of Christ,' she told more than 600 people gathered at Good Counsel High School on the Northwest Side. 1986: Anthony Spilotro, 48, and his brother Michael, 41, were beaten with baseball bats then buried alive in a northwest Indiana cornfield. Contrary to what was depicted in the 1995 film 'Casino,' the brothers were driven to a Bensenville home, where Michael thought he was going to become a 'made member' of the Outfit. Instead, they were beaten with fists, knees and feet in the home's basement before they were driven to the cornfield and buried. Dental records were used by their brother Patrick Spilotro, a dentist, to identify the bodies. The details came out during the 2007 'Family Secrets' trial, which Tribune editor Jeff Coen wrote about in the 2009 book, 'Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob.' 1992: The Chicago Bulls won their second NBA championship. They did it at Chicago Stadium, by overcoming a 17-point deficit to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers 97-93 to win the NBA Finals four games to two. 1998: The Bulls won their sixth NBA title. 2016: Chicago-based Johnson Publishing announced the sale of Ebony and Jet magazines to Austin-based Clear View Group. Johnson Publishing filed for bankruptcy in 2016, and sold its extensive archive in 2019, for $30 million. A consortium comprising the Ford Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Trust, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution announced in 2022, it transferred ownership of the archive to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and to the Getty Research Institute. Subscribe to the free Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter, join our Chicagoland history Facebook group, stay current with Today in Chicago History and follow us on Instagram for more from Chicago's past. Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore and Marianne Mather at krumore@ and mmather@
Al Jazeera
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
To survive, Orban is plotting a far-right takeover of Brussels
A 'Trump tornado' has swept the globe, bringing with it a wave of 'hope' for a return to 'normalcy and peace.' So declared Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in a strikingly blunt keynote speech at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Budapest. Originally a platform for United States Republican Party politicians and theorists, CPAC has, in recent years, evolved into a global forum for radical right-wing forces. Its arrival in Europe was facilitated by the Foundation for Fundamental Rights – a government-organised NGO backed and funded by the Orban administration. While Orban lavished praise on Donald Trump, this year's CPAC had a distinctly European focus. After 15 years in power, Orban faces growing opposition at home. Public frustration over entrenched corruption, economic stagnation and increasingly hostile relations with Hungary's allies has eroded his popularity. A newly emergent opposition movement, led by former Fidesz insider Peter Magyar, is now polling 6 – 8 percentage points ahead of Orban's Fidesz–KDNP coalition, posing a serious challenge ahead of the 2026 general election. In response, the government has ramped up attacks on dissent. Fidesz recently introduced a series of sweeping legislative proposals that threaten opposition politicians, independent media, NGOs and private businesses with Russian-style crackdowns. June's LGBTQ+ Pride march in Budapest was among the first casualties – banned on the grounds of 'child protection'. Alongside these measures, the government has begun rewriting electoral laws and funnelling state resources towards potential Fidesz voters. Alarmed by Orban's escalating authoritarianism, 20 European Union member states this week issued a joint declaration urging him to reverse the new measures. They called on the European Commission to deploy the full range of rule-of-law mechanisms should the laws remain in place. Orban's behaviour is no longer just a domestic matter. His confrontational, transactional approach increasingly paralyses EU decision-making – a luxury the continent can ill afford amid intensifying challenges from Russia, China and the second Trump administration. European unity is not merely a motor of prosperity; it is a cornerstone of collective security. The Article 7 process – a rarely used EU mechanism that can strip a member state of voting rights for violating fundamental values – was triggered by the European Parliament in 2018 due to concerns over judicial independence and media freedom in Hungary. While the European Council has discussed the matter eight times, it has yet to move forward with a vote on sanctions. That may soon change as tensions continue to mount. CPAC 2025 thus served as a strategic platform for Orban to consolidate and expand a coalition of radical right-wing Central European leaders – particularly those with a realistic shot at gaining or retaining power. His aim: to forge a bloc capable of obstructing any EU efforts to sanction his government, whether by suspending voting rights or slashing financial transfers. The EU is already withholding over 20 billion euros ($23bn) in structural funds from Hungary – a figure that could rise, creating a serious political liability for Orban ahead of the 2026 elections. Orban's ambition is to entrench support among regional allies – and it is telling that the governments of Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have yet to join the growing list of countries condemning Hungary's recent democratic backsliding. Through CPAC, the Visegrad Group – a longstanding alliance between Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic — and the 'Patriots for Europe' group – a far-right alliance in the European Parliament launched by Orban and allies in 2024 – the Hungarian leader is laying the foundations for a counterweight bloc designed to frustrate EU countermeasures. This makes the presence of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Poland's Mateusz Morawiecki – of the Law and Justice (PiS) party – at this week's event especially significant. While neither of their parties belongs to the Patriots group in the European Parliament, they remain political allies with growing mutual dependence. Orban has developed a near cult-like following on the European far right: he consistently wins elections, offers a ready-made ideological narrative, and has poured resources into building a pan-European coalition. But his greatest limitations are Hungary's small size and his own deepening isolation from the European mainstream. Should far-right parties enter government elsewhere in Europe, they may opt to distance themselves from Orban – as Italy's Giorgia Meloni has already done. CPAC underscored the scale of Orban's effort to preserve the influence he has worked so hard to build. He cannot take on the EU alone. He needs allies if he is to realise his vision of 'occupying Brussels' and unleashing his own 'tornado' of 'civility' across Europe. The Patriots group, Hungary's Visegrad neighbours and a Trump-led Washington may yet serve as vehicles for that ambition – and for Orban's own political survival. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
