‘We are (home).’

This is the slogan of this year’s Budapest Pride Festival, the largest LGBTQ+ annual event in Hungary, set to take place on June 28.

Defiant, colourful and always proud, LGBTQ+ Hungarians and their allies have taken to the streets of the country’s capital city every year since 1997.

This year’s will be no different, even after a law proposed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s ruling party banned the Pride march altogether.

Fidesz put forward an amended law on public assembly on Monday, passed at a breakneck speed and signed by president Tamas Sulyok two days later.

The law, which claims LGBTQ+ Pride is harmful to children, also gives the police the power to use face recognition cameras to identify Pride-goers and fine them 200,000 Hungarian forints (about £420).

‘We won’t let woke ideology endanger our kids,’ Orbán said of the law.

But the Pride ban is something not all Hungarians want. Opposition lawmakers lit flares during the voting session on Tuesday, while demonstrators blocked Margaret Bridge in Budapest.

But a top Hungarian LGBTQ+ group told Metro that the law, as much as it’s a chilling symptom of authoritarianism, won’t put a stop to Pride anytime soon.

‘The outrage we have witnessed in society to the news of the ban of Pride has been outstanding: in crises like this, it’s solidarity that carries us forward,’ said Luca Dudits, an executive board member of the Háttér Society, which offers legal aid to queer Hungarians.

‘Many have expressed that they will march with us on June 28, for our freedom and equality.’

And this includes Budapest Pride itself. ‘They’ve tried countless times to ban our march – and failed,’ organisers said in a statement, referring to repeated calls in recent years by the far-right Mi Hazánk to prohibit Pride.

‘They won’t succeed now either.’

Since clawing back to power in 2010, Orbán has presented Hungary as the black sheep in a progressive, liberal Europe, and himself as something of a protector of Christian and traditional family values.

It’s an approach that has seen Orbán be revered by many European conservatives, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

‘Our community has had to face several laws that restrict their rights, as well as live through constant anti-LGBTQ+ government propaganda,’ said Dudits.

‘Many have moved abroad to live their lives in peace, free from the hate-mongering Orbán uses.’

In 2021, Hungary’s parliament passed a law that many campaigners have compared to Russia’s so-called ‘gay propaganda ban’.

The policy equates being gay with paedophilia, campaigners say, by banning the ‘promotion’ of LGBTQ+ people to minors in the media or sex education programmes.

Dudits said that this ban and the other ban this week coming from Fidesz, or the Federation of Young Democrats, is no surprise.

‘Fidesz has a history of mistreating and attacking minority groups,’ she said.

‘In recent years, migrants and asylum seekers have been used as scapegoats and made out to be the enemy of the public via a billboard campaign and television ads.

‘Homeless and Roma people have also been the target of government campaigns: homelessness has been criminalised.’

But Fidesz, which secured a super-majority in 2022, has increasingly made LGBTQ+ public enemy number one, Dudits added. Even though opinion polls show Hungarians generally do support LGBTQ+ rights.

‘They launch these crusades against social minorities to divert attention from real issues, such as skyrocketing inflation, corruption scandals or the pandemic,’ she explained.

Hungary’s inflation rate – the increase in the price of something over time – is the highest in Europe. Food prices are 80% higher than five years ago, according to calculations by ING Bank.

Hungary is, however, scoring highly on a list of the most corrupt countries in the EU run by Transparency International, an anti-graft watchdog.

Given this, it’s also unsurprising that Orbán’s supporters have looked to facial recognition technology (FRT) to crack down on LGBTQ+ people, campaign groups say.

The use of facial recognition – software that maps, analyses and confirms the identity of a face in a photograph or video – by the police is limited by the EU Artificial Intelligence Act.

‘Additionally, attending an assembly such as Pride reveals political opinions or philosophical beliefs, which are also considered sensitive data,’ Háttér Society, Amnesty International and two other Hungarian human rights groups said in a statement.

‘The use of FRT to identify unknown perpetrators of all petty offences, irrespective of the gravity or type of the petty offence, is a restriction of the right to the protection of personal data.

‘This does not only violate the Hungarian Fundamental Law but also violates EU law.’

With a parliamentary election set for next year, one that polls suggest won’t be an easy win for Orbán, Dudits knows this won’t be the last time her community will be chanting in the streets.

And they certainly will be on June 28, and for however long it takes.

‘We are organising community events to make sure people don’t feel alone,’ Dudits added, ‘it’s more important than ever to support each other.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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Americans are voting with their feet and a new analysis shows Texas and Florida are projected to gain electoral college votes in 2030 while California and New York will lose votes.

These new numbers confirm Americans are rejected the Democrats’ liberal, pro-abortion agenda as they move to pro-life conservative states that better represent their family values.

Texas is on a trajectory to significantly enhance its political influence by potentially gaining four congressional seats following the 2030 Census. This anticipated growth underscores the state’s robust population increase and economic vitality, positioning it as a pivotal player in national politics.

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The state’s burgeoning population is a testament to its business-friendly environment, low taxes, and commitment to pro-life and family values—principles that have long been championed by Republicans. The state was the first America, even before Dobbs, to protect babies from abortions. These factors have attracted families and businesses seeking opportunities and freedom, contributing to Texas’s demographic expansion.

With the addition of these congressional seats, Texas will wield greater influence in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Electoral College. The Republican-controlled state legislature will oversee the redistricting process, ensuring that the new congressional maps are drawn to reflect the interests and values of conservative Texans.

Meanwhile, Florida is right behind, which is also expected to gain four seats according to data from the American Redistricting Project (ARP).

On the Democrat side, California is projected to lose three seats, and New York to lose two.

In fact, recent figures show that most of the states currently gaining in population are pro-life are pro-life red states while most of the states losing population are pro-abortion blue states. This bodes well for future presidential and Congressional elections, to keep the White House and Congress in pro-life Republican hands and away from radical pro-abortion Democrats who want abortions up to birth nationwide.

The post Texas and Florida Will Gain Electoral Votes, California and New York Will Lose Them appeared first on LifeNews.com.