In its Judgment No. Kgyk.VII.39.057/2025/8, dated 31 May 2025, the Curia annulled the decision of the assembly authority and ordered it to conduct new proceedings with regard to the event scheduled by the notification for 1 June 2025, entitled “March for the equal rights of LGBTQI people on the 5th anniversary of the adoption of section 33...” due to a violation of the obligation to establish the facts and provide reasoning in an appropriate manner.
The organizers, believing that they would no longer be able to hold their event, changed the date thereof to 28 June 2025, being also the planned date of the Budapest Pride parade. The assembly authority qualified the changing of the event’s date as a new notification and, due to the competing event, set a different route than the previous one. The (...) Foundation withdrew from the organizers of this event.
Subsequently, the assembly authority issued its decision prohibiting the holding of the assembly at the location and time specified in the notification. The authority examined, among others, the connection between the assembly scheduled by the notification for 28 June 2025 and the 30th Budapest Pride event. It concluded that the planned event would violate the prohibition set out in section 6/A of the Protection of Children Act. Four organizations brought a legal action against the authority’s decision, requesting that the assembly authority’s decision be quashed and that the unlawful consequences of the defendant’s actions be remedied.
In its decision of 11 June 2025, the Curia annulled the defendant’s decision and ordered the defendant to conduct new proceedings. The Curia found that Article XVI of the Fundamental Law, section 13/A of the Freedom of Assembly Act and section 6/A of the Protection of Children Act contain a categorical prohibition on events that violate children’s right to protection and care necessary for their proper physical, mental and moral development. On the other hand, the authority should not primarily base its decision on the name of the event in question, but should demonstrate the violation of the designated children’s rights in its prohibitive decision. The Curia pointed out that since the provisions of the Fundamental Law and the relevant legislation exclude the weighing of competing rights in this regard, particular emphasis is placed on the authority’s obligation to establish the facts and provide reasoning in order to demonstrate that the event in question makes available content, for persons under the age of eighteen, that is pornographic or depicts sexuality for its own sake, or promotes and depicts deviation from self‑identity corresponding to birth sex, gender reassignment and homosexuality. The Curia found that, beyond comparing the event to previous Budapest Pride events, the defendant’s decision did not provide sufficient reasoning as to why the event in question violated or could violate children’s rights. and that the reasoning behind the decision is contradictory and incomplete in that, apart from indicating the purpose of the assembly, the decision does not specify the location (route) of the assembly, the number of organisers or the expected number of participants.
The Curia issued guidelines for the authority’s new proceedings, stating that the authority must fulfill its obligation to clarify the facts and provide reasoning in the above-mentioned scope as well.
The full text of the Hungarian-language version of the decision is available on the website of Curia (https://kuria-birosag.hu/hu/gyulekezesi-jogorvoslati-ugyek).
Budapest, 11 June 2025
Press and Protocol Unit of the Curia of Hungary