Hungarian LGBTQ activist stands up to Pride ban
World
Hungarian LGBTQ activist stands up to Pride ban
June 29, 2025 | 6:03 AM GMT
This year, Budapest Pride was banned by the Hungarian government. LGBTQ activist Kristóf Steiner and his husband joined thousands to march in defiance.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
12 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
New York City pride march arrives amid growing national backlash
Advertisement Stacy Lentz, an owner of the Stonewall Inn, where the 1969 riots took place, and the CEO of an affiliated nonprofit, said she thought LGBTQ+ people and their supporters needed 'to get back to the roots of Pride and what happened at Stonewall because our rights are under attack in a way we haven't been in decades.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'I have had young folks ask me, 'What do you think it was like back then? How do you think people felt to be fighting for their rights?'' she said. 'I tell them we've never been closer to that time then we are right now. We all need to pick up the torch.' The New York march is the largest of its kind in the United States, with 75,000 participants and roughly 2 million spectators, according to organizers. It is also broadcast on network television, a testament to how much public support for LGBTQ+ people has grown over a generation. Advertisement But backlash against LGBTQ+ rights has increased since same-sex marriage became legal nationwide almost exactly 10 years ago. The fallout has mainly, though not solely, affected transgender people. 'The gay and lesbian movement succeeded beyond the expectations of the founders,' said David K. Johnson, a professor of history at the University of South Florida. 'But now trans people are the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQ community, which is why I think sometimes using the term LGBTQ actually obscures more than it explains.' Over the past three years, Americans have become more supportive of laws that limit transgender rights, according to the Pew Research Center. A majority of adults now support laws that ban gender-affirming care for minors and require trans people to play on sports teams based on their sex at birth. A poll released by Gallup in May showed that 54% of Americans -- up from 51% four years ago -- said that it was morally wrong to change one's gender. The share of Americans who said that homosexuality was morally wrong had risen much further, from 25% in 2022 to 33% in 2025. 'As my grandma used to say, 'Now we are hustling backward,'' said Sean Ebony Coleman, the founder and CEO of Destination Tomorrow, an LGBTQ+ center in the Bronx. Transgender individuals and their allies have been hit hard by the anti-diversity fervor of the Trump administration, which spent heavily on campaign ads attacking trans people in the months leading up to last year's presidential election. Advertisement Soon after President Donald Trump took office, he issued a series of executive orders seeking to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs and limit the rights of transgender individuals. One order barred federal contractors or those that received federal grant money from making use of DEI policies. That set off a confusing scramble in the private sector, leading many corporations to cut back or cancel their donations to Pride events in New York and around the country. Another executive order banned openly transgender people from serving in the military, while another stated that the federal government would recognize only two unchangeable sexes -- male and female -- and banned the use of federal funds for the promotion of 'gender ideology,' a term whose legal definition is unclear. All the orders have been challenged in court, but they have severely harmed the nation's LGBTQ+ organizations, many of which rely on federal grants to provide social services to older adults, young people or those struggling with issues such as substance abuse or homelessness. The administration has also canceled roughly $800 million worth of grants on topics related to LGBTQ+ people, a move that has devastated research programs focused on LGBTQ+ health. The amount of canceled funds was wildly out of proportion to the number of LGBTQ+ people in the United States. Roughly half of all the research funding canceled by the administration was dedicated to the health of LGBTQ+ individuals, who make up about 10% of the population. (BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM.) The ban on 'gender ideology' and DEI has also led to a number of symbolic affronts. In February, the National Park Service removed references to trans people from the webpages of the Stonewall National Monument. And last week, the U.S. Navy renamed a ship that had honored Harvey Milk, one of the country's first openly gay elected officials, who was assassinated in 1978. Advertisement The LGBTQ+ movement has also suffered a series of Supreme Court defeats in recent weeks. The court ruled that the Trump administration could begin enforcing a ban on transgender troops in the military. It upheld the rights of parents to withdraw their children from public schools when LGBTQ+ themes are discussed. It sided with a heterosexual woman who claimed her gay co-workers had discriminated against her. And it upheld a ban on gender-affirming care for young people. (END OPTIONAL TRIM.) The parade is also the occasion for ideological fights within the movement itself. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch criticized organizers over their decision to ban the Gay Officers Action League from fully participating in this year's parade. She said that the organizers had refused to allow officers to carry guns, which she said are an integral part of their dress uniform. It is the 'height of hypocrisy to request the security and protection of thousands of armed, uniformed police officers for the march on Sunday and then ban from that event the very officers that proudly represent your community,' Tisch wrote in a letter Saturday that was shared with The New York Times. 'In a year when LGBTQ+ rights are under siege in ways we had thought were behind us, this is the time to stand together, not to splinter.' She and members of the group plan to protest their exclusion at 11 a.m. Eastern near the parade route, according to a department news release. Police and corrections officers had been banned from marching as a group at Pride since 2021 in the aftermath of the George Floyd protests and widespread criticism of violence by law enforcement officers. Advertisement This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Kremlin says Europe will feel the recoil from its 'illegal' sanctions on Russia
MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said in remarks published on Sunday that the tougher the sanctions imposed on Russia by Europe, the more painful the recoil would be for Europe's own economies as Russia had grown resistant to such "illegal" sanctions. Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered a wave of Western sanctions on Russia and it is by far the most sanctioned major economy in the world. The West said that it hoped its sanctions would force President Vladimir Putin to seek peace in Ukraine, and though the economy contracted in 2022, it grew in 2023 and 2024 at faster rates than the European Union. The European Commission on June 10 proposed a new round of sanctions against Russia, targeting Moscow's energy revenues, its banks and its military industry, though the United States has so far refused to toughen its own sanctions. Asked about remarks by Western European leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron that toughening sanctions would force Russia to negotiate an end to the war, the Kremlin said only logic and arguments could force Russia to negotiate. "The more serious the package of sanctions, which, I repeat, we consider illegal, the more serious will be the recoil from a gun to the shoulder. This is a double-edged sword," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television. Peskov told state television's top Kremlin correspondent, Pavel Zarubin, that he did not doubt the EU would impose further sanctions but that Russia had built up "resistance" to such sanctions. President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that any additional EU sanctions on Russia would simply hurt Europe more - and pointed out that Russia's economy grew at 4.3% in 2024 compared to euro zone growth of 0.9%.
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
Martina Navratilova slams Pedro Pascal after actor critical of JK Rowling's stance on trans issues
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova came to the defense of "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling on Saturday as the writer received criticism from actor Pedro Pascal in a recent interview. Rowling and Pascal have clashed in the past on transgender issues, including after Rowling celebrated the United Kingdom's Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of a woman. "Bullies make me f------ sick," Pascal told Vanity Fair. "It's a situation that deserves the utmost elegance so that something can actually happen." Rowling dismissed Pascal in a social media post on Friday and Navratilova added to it. "Another Johnny come lately telling women to STFU," Navratilova wrote. Navratilova is a lifelong Democrat but has never wavered on her push to keep biological males from competing against girls and women in sports. She has made clear in the past she is no supporter of President Donald Trump, and a quick scan of her social media posts would underscore that. However, she has lamented Democrats' inaction over the issue of transgender athletes participating in women's and girls' sports. When Trump signed an executive order to prohibit biological males from women's and girls' sports, she fired off a fierce message toward the Democratic Party. "I hate that the Democrats totally failed women and girls on this very clear issue of women's sports being for females only," she wrote in a post on X. She also expressed her frustration in January when the House of Representatives passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act. Only two Democrats voted with Republicans on the bill. "More Dems need to step up here. I know many who agree but are scared to speak up because of re-election. I say do the right thing. Grow a spine," she wrote on X. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
