LGBTQ Olympics to take place in Budapest

The fourteenth international LGBTQ Olympics (also known as EuroGames) will take place in Budapest from the 27th of June to the 1st of July this year.  The event already stirred some attention during the previous weeks. When in 2009, FRIGO (Fresh Thought Association), a Hungarian LGBTQ sport club applied for organizing the 2012 Eurogames, they have attached a letter from Gábor Demszky – the Mayor of Budapest at that time – in which he granted his support for the event. In 2010, the Mayor who had been governing the city for 20 consecutive years, was replaced by István Tarlós of the governing Fidesz party. Tarlós and Demszky apparently have dissimilar views on the LGBTQ community. In 2001, as Major of district III, Tarlós made a contract with the organizers of Sziget festival, containing an amendment that explicitly requested the organizers not to let any organized event ”of a homosexual nature” take place during the festival. Later the amendment was nullified by the district court for it’s unconstitutional and discriminative nature.

In December 2011, Klaus Wowereit, the openly gay Mayor of Berlin sent a letter to Tarlós, asking for his support of the event, mentioning the promise that Tarlós’s predecessor had made. The reaction from the Mayor was that the event is incompatible with his mentality, so he can not support it. In his brief letter Tarlós explained how he respects the rights of the people represented by the organizers, but he distances himself from the event nevertheless. Meanwhile the radical right wing party Jobbik expresses a more extremist opinion. János Czeglédi, a Jobbik MOP in an announcement declared the event an anti-Christian hate orgy which discriminates heterosexuals, and he challenged Tarlós to carry measures into effect that would hinder the whole event. The 14th EuroGames will most probably be held in Budapest regardless of the support from Tarlós or the complaints of Jobbik. 1800 people in 18 different sports are expected to participate, attracting an estimated audience of 10 000 people.