Not every party and public figure was represented at the Opening of the 15th Budapest Pride
05/07/2010
Submitted by
Budapest Pride
Monday, 5th July 2010
Representatives of two Parliamentary parties, the LMP and the MSzP, attended Sunday’s Opening Celebration of the 15th Budapest Pride at the Művész cinema, but unfortunately the other parties and their representatives did not join us in celebration. The American and British Ambassadors also expressed their support.
On behalf of the Rainbow Mission Foundation, organizers of the 15th Budapest Pride, we note with great pleasure that both domestic and international political figures were represented at the Opening of the Festival on Sunday, July 4th.
András Schiffer, Parliamentary group leader of the LMP, MSzP Parliamentary representative Zsolt Török, and Klára Ungár, president of the SzEMA party, honored our celebration with their presence. While the participation of both of these parties is, from a political point of view, of symbolic importance, the same can be said - unfortunately more negatively - about the fact that the other public dignitaries we invited, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Head of State László Sólyom, and Parliamentary President Pál Schmitt, were not present at the event. Also invited were members of the Fidesz-KDNP, but they apparently did not feel obligated to send a representative.
We hope that those parties who were present will continue to stand up in defense of the Hungarian lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, and that those parties and public figures who did not attend will follow the example of the supporting ambassadors.
Despite the fact that it was their national holiday, Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis, the American Ambassador, gave a speech at the Opening, and Cultural Attaché John Bailan was there as well.
As Ambassador Kounalakis said, the future of the Hungarian LGBT community ought to resemble the situation of our comrades in San Francisco: she herself was married on the same spot where later many gay couples were married; and there can freely get married, and often practice often shapes the making of laws supporting gay rights. We believe that in order for this to truly happen here, the political legitimacyrepresentation of LGBT people is necessary, as well as the support of the political parties - including those who were not represented on Sunday at the Opening of the 15th Budapest Pride.
Rainbow Mission Foundation
Representatives of two Parliamentary parties, the LMP and the MSzP, attended Sunday’s Opening Celebration of the 15th Budapest Pride at the Művész cinema, but unfortunately the other parties and their representatives did not join us in celebration. The American and British Ambassadors also expressed their support.
On behalf of the Rainbow Mission Foundation, organizers of the 15th Budapest Pride, we note with great pleasure that both domestic and international political figures were represented at the Opening of the Festival on Sunday, July 4th.
András Schiffer, Parliamentary group leader of the LMP, MSzP Parliamentary representative Zsolt Török, and Klára Ungár, president of the SzEMA party, honored our celebration with their presence. While the participation of both of these parties is, from a political point of view, of symbolic importance, the same can be said - unfortunately more negatively - about the fact that the other public dignitaries we invited, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Head of State László Sólyom, and Parliamentary President Pál Schmitt, were not present at the event. Also invited were members of the Fidesz-KDNP, but they apparently did not feel obligated to send a representative.
We hope that those parties who were present will continue to stand up in defense of the Hungarian lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, and that those parties and public figures who did not attend will follow the example of the supporting ambassadors.
Despite the fact that it was their national holiday, Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis, the American Ambassador, gave a speech at the Opening, and Cultural Attaché John Bailan was there as well.
As Ambassador Kounalakis said, the future of the Hungarian LGBT community ought to resemble the situation of our comrades in San Francisco: she herself was married on the same spot where later many gay couples were married; and there can freely get married, and often practice often shapes the making of laws supporting gay rights. We believe that in order for this to truly happen here, the political legitimacyrepresentation of LGBT people is necessary, as well as the support of the political parties - including those who were not represented on Sunday at the Opening of the 15th Budapest Pride.
Rainbow Mission Foundation
