New Plans for This Year’s Budapest Pride

The 14th Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Film and Cultural Festival Budapest has a new date to allow organisers to draw a wider range of LGBT and heterosexual participants than in earlier years. The Gay Pride March will be a demonstration where everyone who wants to express their solidarity with LGBT people and condemns violence against them is welcome, without regard to sexual orientation.

The Rainbow Mission Foundation, organiser of the pride presented its plans for this year’s LGBT Festival last Wednesday, where new dates were announced. This year’s festival will take place from 30 August 2009 to 6 September 2009. Similar to earlier years, participants will have a choice of several films daily and can discuss personal and social issues affecting LGBT people and get to know LGBT culture at workshops and discussions.

One major change is that the festival will last a whole week as opposed to four days in earlier years. Organisers delayed the festival to advertise the cultural assembly both within the LGBT community and for heterosexuals so that it can become a bridge between people of different sexual orientations. “We would like more people who had not been regulars so far to attend the Festival and get to know us through the cultural programmes” said Sándor Steigler board member of the organising Foundation. The logo of the LGBT Festival, as shown here, has been renewed which expresses this multicultural approach.

Last year saw a wave of solidarity with several public figures and average heterosexual citizens attending the march in addition to LGBT people, all expressing their sentiment that LGBT people have the right to undisturbed freedom of assembly and opinion. “This year, we are advertising the Gay Pride March to everyone who thinks it is important that LGBT people should have equal rights, and we will welcome any group or organisation that wants to join us in this” said Steigler.

According to a recent analysis in a Yale University magazine that solidarity is indeed needed. While Budapest has an increasingly cosmopolitan atmosphere where being lesbian or gay is accepted, the country is taking a swing to the right politically with chances of a right wing party that openly promotes violence against LGBT people getting into parliament at next year’s elections. More about the analysis here:
http://tyglobalist.org/index.php/20090511205/Features/Homophobia-in-Hung....