This year’s Budapest Pride was banned in March under the Orbán government’s contentious “child protection” law. Demonstrators were threatened with hefty fines for participating, and the government said it would employ facial-recognition technology to identify and potentially prosecute those who turned out to take part at the march on 28 June.

Did the ban work? Not in the slightest. In fact, more people than ever in the 30-year history of Budapest Pride showed up to celebrate their rights as LGBTQ+ human beings. 

The massive Pride march brought a glimmer of hope to some Hungarian citizens, including this week’s guest, writer Krisztián Marton. We spoke with Krisztián about the lead-up to the event, the thrill of being on the ground last Saturday, and what might be next for Hungary, now that Viktor Orbán finally has a formidable challenger in Péter Magyar. We also chatted with Dominic’s husband, Thomas Lamers, a philosopher and dramaturg who hit the streets for us, mic in hand. (Thanks, Thomas, we owe you!)

Krisztián Marton is a screenwriter and novelist. You can follow him on Instagram here and read an excerpt in English of his Margó Prize-nominated novel Crybaby here. You can donate to Thomas’s fundraiser to pay some of the fines that may be incurred by Pride attendees here. 

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This week's Inspiration Station recommendations: the recent episode of Zakia Sewell’s Radio 6 series Dream Time, “Solstice selections…with Zakia,” and the Ukrainian band The Sixsters, winners of the European Emerging Bands Contest.

00:00:46 A sweltering hello and a tick PSA

Producers: Morgan Childs and Wojciech Oleksiak