Budapest Pride – July 10, 2010

The week before the Pride, workshops were held on different topics concerning the LGBT community.  My favorite was Hungarian photographer Judith M. Horváth’s comparison of the Roma community to the LGBT community.  Judith and her husband’s images of the Roma were just incredible.

Clare Dimyon, in orange, discusses her experience attending different Prides around the EU.  Clare was awarded the MBE, Member of the British Empire Award, by the Queen for her work.  Here she explains one of her photos on display in the British Embassy.

“Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride” co-producer Morris Chapdelaine, (right),  attended the march and held a Q&A with one of the Budapest Pride organizers, (left) after the screening of his documentary.    It was great to finally meet Morris after following his movie’s FB page for so long.

Police are posted outside of  a local movie theater which hosted several pre-Pride events.  Earlier in the week a group of skinheads ripped down the Rainbow flag and assaulted an individual.

City workers began putting up steel barricades around 9am, and riot-police started suiting up around 11.  However, as the march didn’t start until 3pm, the streets were very quiet.

Because of the violence that took place at the 2007 and 2008 Prides, streets are now totally blocked off.  This is great for keeping participants safe from protestors, but it can defeat the purpose of a public event.

Problems.  The police and organizers are having communication difficulties.  Police have not blocked off the route as in previous years, and say they will not walk the route with participants.  Security after the Pride is also in question.

Organizers and volunteers check each individual that comes into the Pride grounds.  Bags are checked for weapons and several right-wingers posing as participants are turned away.  Unfortunately, some do make it past the guards.

Around 1,000 participants show up for Budapest’s 15th Pride.

A group of young skinheads showed up pretty early.  I think the oldest one out of this group was 16 years old.

An obviously intoxicated protestor screams at participants who are blocks away.

Police quickly arrested four skinheads who tried to disrupt the Pride.

Despite the communication problems, I thought the police did a very good job.  It was an extremely hot day and I can’t believe anyone would want to stand around for hours in that riot-gear.  This was the first Pride where I had several officers give me their emails so I could send them photos.

At the end of the march participants head down to the subway, which has been closed off  specifically for the Pride.  At every exit along the route riot-police are also waiting.

The next day a small group gathered at the grave of Károly Kertbeny, the Hungarian writer and creator of the term “homosexual.”  I was actually very sad to see so few people there.

Again, I would like to thank everyone here in Budapest, especially Hadley who always took the time to speak with us about the community here.

To see more images of Pride, check out the our website:
http://www.walkwithpridenow.com

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http://wwpproject.wordpress.com

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