Budapest Court Overturns City Police Decision To Ban Gay Pride March

Thankfully, reports the Human Rights Watch, on Friday, the Budapest Metropolitan Court overturned a police decision to deny permission for Budapest’s Gay Pride march, planned for June 18th, 2011. On February 11th, as previously posted, the police decided to deny an application by the Rainbow Mission Foundation to extend the route of the 2011 Gay Pride march to the parliament building, the police stating that the decision was based solely on concerns over disruptions to traffic, while the organizers contend the decision was politically motivated. Rainbow Mission Foundation made a formal request to the police in September, 2010 to hold the gay pride march in June, 2011, but because the police did not deny the request within two days, it was automatically approved under national law. In February, the organizers of the event decided to extend the route to end at Parliament Square, but the police denied their request. The court refuted the police claims that the extended route of the march would unduly obstruct traffic. In 2008, the police had denied a permit for a gay pride march on similar grounds but withdrew its objections following a letter from 15 LGBT organizations and the rejection by Gábor Demszky, the Budapest mayor at that time, of the claim that the parade would unduly obstruct traffic. An estimated 450 lesbians, gays, and supporters gathered in the city center for the event. During the march, though, several LGBT people were subjected to physical and verbal abuse, and crowds of counter-demonstrators threw explosive devices, eggs, cobblestones, and bottles at the participants. As a result 10 people were injured and 45 detained. Boris Dittrich, the acting director of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights program at Human Rights Watch, said that “The court's decision was a victory not only for the community of lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender people, but for the right of all Hungarians to freedom of assembly, and added that "Instead of trying to obstruct the fundamental rights to freedom of assembly and expression, the police authorities should fulfill their obligation to protect the demonstrators. The court has done the right thing. The police should follow suit."