“We’re Not Just Defending The Rights Of LGBTIQ+ People. We’re Defending Democracy.” Vincent Reillon – Forbidden Colours

It seems like LGBTIQ+ rights in Europe are under increasing pressure. What’s really going on?

What we’re seeing isn’t just a series of isolated setbacks. It’s a transnational strategy to roll back democracy and human rights — and LGBTIQ+ people are being used as the first targets.
In Hungary, Viktor Orbán passed a Russian-style “LGBT propaganda” law in 2021, banning mentions of LGBTIQ+ people in schools, media, and public life. Since then, he’s banned Pride marches and changed the Constitution to erase trans people from legal recognition. Bulgaria and
Georgia have followed with similar propaganda laws. In the UK, the Supreme Court ruled that trans women can be excluded from legal protections. In the US, Trump is openly copying Orbán’s model.

“The silence is deafening it’s outrageous that we must fight our own governements.”

This isn’t coincidence. It’s a coordinated authoritarian playbook — and it’s spreading fast. People need to
understand that this is not just about the rights of LGBTIQ+ people. What is at stake is our democracy.

But what about the EU? Isn’t it meant to stand up for human rights?

The EU has strong values on paper — the political will to defend them is collapsing. The European Commission has the duty and the real tools to protect these values: it can sue governments, freeze funding, and demand compliance. But far too often, it delays action or stays silent. We fought hard to get the Commission to sue Hungary over the 2021 law. We pushed sixteen Member States and the European Parliament to join the case, making it the largest human rights’ case in the history of the EU. But we’re still waiting on a ruling. And when Hungary banned Pride this year? No serious response. The silence is deafening.
It’s outrageous that we must fi ght our own governments and beg the Commission to do its job. If the Commission doesn’t step up now to protect us all, this contagion will spread unchecked.

What is Forbidden Colours doing in response?

We fight — in courtrooms, in EU institutions, and in the streets. We support grassroots organisations under enormous pressure, bring their voices to Brussels, and build pressure from the inside. We’ll be at Budapest Pride this June — marching in defi ance, no matter what. Through our United4Diversity network, we’re helping build a continent-wide opposition. From Georgia to Italy, from Bulgaria to Belgium, we organise trainings, publish legal briefi ngs, support lawsuits, and mobilise political allies. We’re not just raising awareness. We’re building legal and political resistance — piece by piece.

What’s your biggest challenge right now?

Resources. We’re a small team doing work that entire institutions should be doing. We’re fighting back with everything we have — but it’s not enough. We face an anti-rights movement that is well-funded, organised, and ruthless.
The truth is: the tsunami is coming. And if you think it can’t happen here — even in Belgium — you’re wrong. One country falls, and others follow. If we don’t invest now in defending rights, in supporting civil society, in funding legal action — we’ll all be waking up too late, wondering how it happened.

What can readers do to support your work?

If you’re angry — good. But don’t stop there. Turn that anger into support. If you care and want to help fight back, donate. Even small monthly gifts — €5, €20 — can make a difference. Every donation helps us support a Pride event, publish a legal opinion, train a young activist, or pressure an institution.
Don’t just watch from the sidelines. Stand with us. Invest in resistance.

Final message for KET readers?

This year, let’s remember that Pride is not just a celebration. It’s resistance. It started as a riot — and today, it must be a rallying cry. Because what we’re facing isn’t theoretical. It’s real. Pride marches are being banned.
Families are being broken up. Children are being told their identities are dangerous. This is not a time to be passive. It’s time to be loud. Proud. Political. At Forbidden Colours, we’ll keepfighting. But we can’t do it alone. There’s still time to stopthe tsunami — before it drowns the rights we gained and the freedoms we thought were safe.

Support us. Fund us.
Be the resistance.