LGBTQ+ rights. "Politicians are using us as a tool."

Saturday, Jul 5, 2025

Gazeta Wyborcza

LGBTQ+ rights face challenges across Europe, from Hungary’s bans to political pushback, while EU action offers hope for progress.

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[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

The annual Pride Parade in Budapest was the largest in Hungary’s history, despite government restrictions imposed by Viktor Orbán. Orbán criticized the parades, claiming they demoralize children and downplaying the demonstration’s size while referencing a past referendum on LGBTQ+ rights that he felt was misrepresented by his government’s preceding anti-LGBTQ+ campaign. While Hungary previously had relatively liberal laws in Central and Eastern Europe, such as same-sex partnerships legalized in 2009, other regional countries have different statuses; Czechia allows adoption for same-sex couples, and Spain pioneered same-sex marriage in 2005. Despite progress in some Western European nations, political backlash against LGBTQ+ communities is emerging even there. In Poland, the LGBTQ+ community fears a decline due to conservative shifts, placing hope on the European Union, particularly a forthcoming ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the recognition of same-sex marriages performed abroad.

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