Whoopi Goldberg and Hungarian Gay Rights

Someone we know was successful in getting Whoopi Goldberg to do a Public Service Announcement for the Hungarian Gay Pride to be held next week. I was able to upload it to YouTube for this friend. Here it is.

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Politics.Hu: Judge overrules earlier decision that egg throwing is a civil right

Politics.Hu: Judge overrules earlier decision that egg throwing is a civil right: July 15, 2008, 10:56 CET Judge overrules earlier decision that egg throwing is a civil right By Hungary Around the Clock Municipal Court criminal section head István Kónya stressed on Monday that no court has ever ruled that egg throwing is protected by the right of freedom of expression. Kónya said it is out of the question that throwing eggs is permitted. He told Magyar Hírlap that an earlier ruling in spring 2007 - when police and the prosecutor's office jointly issued a position paper that throwing eggs does not endanger health and therefore is protected by the right of freedom of expression - applied to those specific anti-hooliganism proceedings. Kónya added that 16 criminal cases are in process against the anti-gay demonstrators of July 5."

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Gay Pride Canceled in Budapest

Outrage as Budapest Pride banned by police

By Tony Grew • June 12, 2008 - 13:20

Gay rights activists have reacted angrily to news that the chief of police in Budapest has decided that a Pride march planned for July 5th will interfere with traffic and therefore will not go ahead.

The Europe branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association said it is "appalled" by the decision.

ILGA-Europe called on the police chief, Gabor Toth, to change his decision and back Pride.

At last year's Pride in Budapest skinheads and fascists massed along the 7km (4.3 mile) route of the march for gay rights. They threw eggs and bottles filled with sand at the marchers. Later that evening almost a dozen gay people were set upon and beaten. Pride organisers said that the police had failed to take appropriate action: "Contrary to a number of reports and the statement of the Interior Ministry, items capable of causing grievous bodily harm were thrown at the marchers: beer bottles, smoke bombs and Molotov cocktails," they said.

"The counter-demonstrators continuously shouted: "faggots into the Danube, followed by the Jews," "soap factory" and "filthy faggots." "In the neighbourhood of the event closing the parade dozens of attacks on gays by lingering counter-demonstrators took place."

On that occasion the Prime Minister of Hungary, Ferenc Gyurcsany, utterly condemned the incidents as "brutal, unacceptable, and outrageous."

Patricia Prendiville, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe, said today: "We are appalled by the decision of the Budapest police chief. "We consider his decision as a sign of giving in to the threats of ultra nationalists. "The traffic hindrance explanation and an earlier suggestion to the LGBT

activists to organise a stationary event in an area remote from the city centre are just excuses for the unwillingness of the Budapest police chief to take his responsibilities seriously to ensure order.

"One of the main objectives of any LGBT Pride March is to raise visibility for the LGBT community and communicate the community's concerns and issues to the wider public.

"The police should not be preoccupied with making their lives and jobs easier by banning the demonstrations or sending the participants away from the public. "It is the duty of the police to ensure that each citizen or group of citizens has a right to assemble, and express their view and opinions without interference.

"The law in Europe and Hungary on this subject is clear and the police are there to obey and enforce the law."

Fascism has been on the rise in Hungary in recent years. In 2007 a far-right Hungarian political party, Jobbik, known for their anti-Semitic, anti-Roma and homophobic rhetoric, inducted the first members of its paramilitary wing, the Magyar Guard, outside the country's Presidential palace in Budapest.

Jobbik supporters were among the people who attacked Pride. The founding members of Magyar Garda took oaths of allegance in front of over a thousand supporters of the Jobbik party waving red and white striped Arpad flags, similar to those used by the country's pro-Nazi Arrow Cross regime during the Second World War.

More:

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-7935.html

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