The 7th Budapest Pride March, an event which boasts a long history, took place in Budapest in early July. The first organized LGBTI film festival (1993) was preceeded by a picnic in 1992. The significant traditions of the Pride Festival have gradually intertwined with film and other artistic programmes.

One of the Pride event organizers, Szilvia Nagy told MTI "there have never been so many participants previously" compared to this year. She added that they felt safe owing to the effective measures of the National Police Force. 

Budapest Police spokeswoman Katalin Fanni Horvath told MTI that "The march ended peacefully, without the necessity for police intervention".

In relation to the circumstances of the event, Amnesty International’s Budapest office declared that „The march took place in a peaceful and positive atmosphere. We are thankful for the organizers, the participants and the dedicated service of the National Police Force.”

The Pride March was the final part of the week-long Pride film and cultural festival. During the festival beside other programmes a film called Pride was screened that was mainly about people in Belgrade who had attempted to organize a similar event, but were not supported by either the National Police or public opinion.

According to ILGA Europe’s Rainbow Europe Map & Index 2011, the legal status of the LGBTI community is ranked highest in Hungary among all neighbouring countries. Hungary also achieved a great result in the overall comparison. The European countries were measured according to a scale ranging from -7 to 17, where the value of -7 means gross violations of human rights and discrimination, while the value of 17 represents the full respect of human rights and equality. In this comparison the worst country ranks -4, and the best achieved a score of 12,5, while Hungary ranks seventh. Consequently, in addition to achieving the highest score among its neighbours, Hungary also occupies a distinguished position in the overall map.

(Prime Minister’s Office)