The 18th Budapest Pride Festival, a week-long series of diverse cultural and social activities, will begin this year on June 30. Registered with the police yesterday, the Budapest Pride March will be on Saturday, July 6. Given the political and societal climate, the festival’s theme for this year is the importance of solidarity and actively standing up for each other: Our freedom is your freedom.

The organizers of Budapest Pride strongly condemn the banning of Belgrade Pride 2012, which was planned to be held Oct. 6. The march, which has been attacked by extremists for years, was banned this week by the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is sad the Serbian state, instead of stopping these attacks, chooses instead to ban a peaceful march and violate the basic human rights of LGBTQ people in Serbia.

This year’s Budapest Pride Film and Cultural Festival will be held from July 1 through July 8, 2012. The week-long festival, which features a variety of events at different points of the capital, includes film screenings, discussions, theater performances, exhibitions, parties, concerts, and the Saturday afternoon Budapest Pride March. We invite all who support culture and democratic rights to join us.

The Rainbow Mission Foundation has signed a joint NGO submission, in which we call on the Minister of Justice and Public Administration to withdraw the proposal, which, if adopted by Parliament, would declare that Hungary is not willing to implement the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).