Rainbow Rose General Assembly in Budapest in solidarity with the Hungarian LGBTIQ+ community

The choice of Budapest for the Rainbow Rose General Assembly 2024 is the culmination of many years of work and partnership with MSZP and their active LGBTIQ+ forum, as well as cooperation with the Democratic Coalition.

The Party of European Socialists (PES) hosted a Panel Discussion titled Illiberal Democracies: A Threat to Equality and Freedom, reaffirming its will to work closely with its LGBTIQ network and member parties. A fruitful debate from a progressive perspective brought up possible strategies to resist threats from right-wing governments, focusing on local actions, grassroots mobilisation and the power of cooperation with civil society and activists across borders. Panellists included Viktória Radványi, President of Budapest Pride, Kata Tüttő, Vice President at the PES Group in the European Committee of the Regions and László Sebián-Petrovszki, DK Member of Parliament and President of the Diverse Hungary Parliamentary Group; moderated by Sebastian Pay, Rainbow Rose Vice-President.

During the two-day programme, activists and politicians from PES member parties engaged in a critical conversation exploring growing threats to LGBTIQ+ rights in Europe, driven mainly by illiberal democracies built by right-wing governments and anti-gender movements. Participants also discussed challenges faced by LGBTIQ+ communities in Europe and highlighted the rise of discriminatory policies, rhetoric, and state-sanctioned repression.

President of Rainbow Rose, Dajana Bakić, said:

"When we look at the global developments, we see we are facing a crisis. Across Europe, we are witnessing an alarming rise in nationalism, anti-gender rhetoric, and the dangerous call of the far-right. These forces seek to strip away the hard-earned rights of our LGBTIQ+ family, roll back progress on gender equality, and impose a narrow, exclusionary view of what it means to be European. This General Assembly confirmed our unwavering commitment to fostering an inclusive network and advancing LGBTIQ rights across Europe as our top priority.

As we continue our journey, I am inspired by the resilience and passion of the members of the Board, our member organizations, activists and allies. We will continue working closely with PES, S&D group in European Parliament, and other member organisations and networks within our political family towards a Europe that is truly democratic, stands up to injustice, and does not turn its back on any of us."

Rainbow Rose approved and welcomed new member, Queer Forum SDP Croatia and adopted a motion for firm recognition of the right of all trans and gender-diverse youth to access health care of the best quality standard across all EU and Council of Europe Member States in line with WPATH best practice and WPATH's Standards of Care Version 8 (SOC8).

At the launch of its annual meeting, Rainbow Rose welcomed the interventions from progressive politicians and activists to the General Assembly, including Iratxe García, president of the S&D Group, Marc Angel MEP, Zita Gurmai, president of PES Women and MSZP Vice President, László Sebián-Petrovszki, DK Secretary General and President of the Diverse Hungary Parliamentary Group and Enric Lopez, President of YES.