The Pride movement is about fighting social exclusion and discrimination \u2013 but what if the Pride organisers themselves exclude and discriminate against those who are in the greatest need of support \u2013 LGBTI sex workers? This is what happened in Budapest, where a workshop on sex work was banned from the festival.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The mission of our organisation, the Rights Reporter Foundation, is to advocate for the human rights of vulnerable groups, such as drug users and sex workers, mainly by educating the public with online articles and videos. We were therefore delighted to accept an invitation from Budapest Pride to participate in the video team aiming to document possible human rights abuses, at this year\u2019s march on the 2nd of July. Unfortunately, our joy was not long-lasting. We were told that Pride organisers had excluded from the official program a workshop on sex work, organised by the Hungarian Association of Sex Workers and Transvanilla Transgender Association. According to Pride organisers, this workshop presents a threat to Budapest Pride, because it suggests that sex work can be a voluntary job while it is in fact an institution based on patriarchal oppression.<\/p>\n