Last year we stood together in this city when Pride was banned, when people faced prosecution just for walking in the streets. Yet, you marched anyway, two hundred thousand of you from thirty countries.
That march did not just make history. It helped change history. What a difference a year makes.
Yesterday I met with members of the new government. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anita Orban, Minister of Interior, Mr Gabor Posfai, Minister of Health, Zsolt Hegedius, and Minister of Social and Family Affairs, Vilmos Kátai-Németh, in charge of equality policies. It was great to hear how we can support Hungary in building your future. I look forward to working together.
Dear Gergely, last year I thanked you for your courage because I saw firsthand the personal risks that you took to defend the rights of all Hungarians. I also thanked you for being stubborn. Today we see that stubbornness paid off. It made a difference.
Today I am back to celebrate Pride, freely and openly, without fear. We celebrate something simple and powerful: the freedom to be who you are, and love who you love.
Last April, Hungarians made a choice. They took their future into their own hands. They chose Europe. They chose democracy. And they chose a Hungary where everyone belongs.
Today's Pride is the latest proof of that new beginning. The winds of change are blowing across this great nation. We all feel it.
This morning I met with you, Gergely. I will also meet the organisers of Pride.
I am glad the charges against you and Géza Buzás-Hábel, the organiser of last year's Pécs pride, have been dropped. Organising these marches was never a crime. It is a fundamental right.
The European Court of Justice ruling was clear. It finds that the so-called 'Child Protection Law' stigmatises and marginalises LGBTIQ+ people. It violates EU values and is not compatible with EU law.
You can count on the European Union to keep pushing forward. Our new five-year LGBTIQ+ Strategy will make our Union more inclusive.
Here are two concrete examples:
First, banning conversion practices. These are not therapy. They are torture. We are preparing a Recommendation to ban them across the EU.
Second, tackling online violence. Digital violence is just as brutal as physical violence. Hate spreads at the click of a button, so we are working to stop it with policies, with partners, and very concretely, with money.
In our next EU budget, we have proposed more than doubling funding for equality and civil society, up to €3.6 billion. The people in the streets are not just marching for themselves. They are marching for all of us, and they deserve our support. Equality, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, these are not optional.
Today is a beautiful day. Hungary and the European Union, celebrating Pride together.
But it is also about more than Pride. It is about building the society we want to live in, free, inclusive, and democratic.
I was with you last year in difficult times, and I am here now in a moment of hope. The European Union will stay with you, helping to build a bright future.
Progress is made by people who march even when they are told they cannot. You did that. Hungary did that. And all of Europe was inspired by you.
This is your moment. A spark of freedom, right here, in the heart of Europe.
