Participants march on the Elisabeth bridge as they take part in the Budapest Pride Parade in Budapest, Hungary

Thousands attend Pride parade in post-Orbán Budapest

27 Jun 2026, 16:13 · RTE.ie

Tens of thousands of people gathered in soaring temperatures in Hungary's capital to celebrate the 31st annual Budapest Pride, the first such LGBTQ+ march since former prime minister Viktor Orbán, who had sought to ban the event, was ousted in an April election.

The march began this afternoon as temperatures reached at least 38C amid a record-breaking heatwave that has gripped most of Europe.

Organisers distributed water bottles to marchers, and the city’s public water utility opened fountains along the route.

Participants set off from Budapest’s famous Opera house and wound through the city centre before crossing the Erzsebet Bridge over the Danube River.

Members of Hungary’s LGBTQ+ community and masses of supporters danced to music and waved rainbow flags.

Luca Uj, who was participating in her third Pride event, said she felt the mood at the march was more relaxed now that Mr Orbán’s government, which implemented numerous anti-LGBTQ+ policies during its 16 years in power, had been defeated.

"There used to be a lot of tension. But now I see people as being somehow happier, and there are more older people, too," she said.

Participants in the Budapest Pride Parade, march across the Elisabeth bridge in Budapest

The Pride march came a little more than a year after Mr 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 organisers estimating attendance at more than 350,000.

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

Mr Orban was defeated in the April election by a centre-right challenger, Prime Minister Péter Magyar and his Tisza party.

Hungary’s new government has not repealed the Orbán-era legislation that outlawed Pride, but police this year authorised the event and were providing security along the route.

In April, the EU’s highest court ruled that Orbán-era legislation from 2021 that banned the availability of LGBTQ+ content to minors violates EU law and breaches a foundational treaty guaranteeing respect for human rights and equality.