At a time when queer and LGBTIQ+ voices are being increasingly censored, marginalised, or silenced in European media landscapes, LIMENet will be showcasing one of its project partners, Beyond Queer Politics, at DW’s Global Media Forum (GMF) on June 24.
The podcast will record a live episode at the annual gathering of journalists, media professional and changemakers. This year’s theme for GMF in Bonn is: Journalism Out Loud: Speak. Listen. Act.
Hosted by Rémy Bonny, a prominent European LGBTIQ+ rights activist and the executive director of the NGO Forbidden Colours, Beyond Queer Politics focuses on the intersection of LGBTIQ+ rights, democracy, and power in Europe.
Rémy will be joined by Klementyna Suchanow, Polish author, researcher, and women’s rights activist, and Hungarian journalist and LGBTQ+ activist Ádám András Kanicsár.
During the podcast recording, which will be held in front of an audience, Rémy, Klementyna and Ádám will discuss the Hungarian and Polish contexts, where political pressure, strategic lawsuits and hostile media environments have had a chilling effect on independent journalism and queer visibility.
Elections in both countries have ushered in new governments, raising hopes for improvements in LGBTIQ+ rights.
“In times of democratic backsliding and growing efforts to scapegoat minorities, the fight for LGBTIQ+ rights and the fight for a free and independent press are inseparable. Both are among the first targets of those who seek to weaken democracy,” said Rémy Bonny.
“Through Beyond Queer Politics at the Global Media Forum, I hope to explore how anti-rights movements operate across borders, why journalists and civil society must stand together and how defending one another ultimately means defending democracy itself.”
LGBTIQ+ rights in Hungary and Poland
The election of centre-right prime minister Péter Magyar in Hungary in April brought cautious optimism that the anti-LGBTIQ+ policies of the previous government under Viktor Orbán would be reversed. Some of those policies include a 2020 bill stripping trans and intersex people of their right to legal gender recognition, a constitutional amendment that defined ‘family’ exclusively around marriage between and man and woman, a 2021 ‘Propaganda Law’ banning the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality or gender diversity to anyone under 18 across schools, media and advertising, and the 2025 criminalisation of Pride marches.
In April, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that Hungary violated EU law when it banned children from accessing LGBTIQ+ content. The court said the anti-LGBTIQ+ laws violate EU rules and infringe its values of equality and minority rights.
In another shift, Hungarian police have said they will not prevent anyone taking part in the 27 June Pride march in Budapest.
In Poland, where LGBTIQ+ people have been fighting for equal rights for decades, change under the government of Donald Tusk, who promised to legalise civil unions for same-sex couples when he was elected in 2023, has been slow. In May 2026, the first same-sex marriage was registered in Warsaw, following a court ruling that requires the recognition of same-sex marriages registered abroad. Same-sex couples in Poland still cannot legally marry or enter into civil partnerships.
Under the previous Law and Justice party government, cities declared “LGBT Ideology Free” zones, which were finally dismantled in May 2025. Between 2019 and 2024, provinces, towns, and municipalities across Poland pledged to “protect children from moral corruption” or declared themselves free from “LGBT ideology”.
As the International Bar Association wrote in April, the status of LGBTIQ+ rights in Europe is complex. Populist agendas and foreign influence have been driving anti-LGBTIQ+ narratives and repressive laws, however, governments have been taking action to uphold and restore rights.
LIMENet supporting local, innovative media
Media Diversity Institute Global runs the EU-co-funded LIMENet project which supports local, innovative media across Europe.
“MDI Global stands with diverse and underserved communities and that commitment is at the heart of the LIMENet’s project’s work strengthening local news”, says Josh LaPorte, LIMENet’s manager.
“That’s why being part of this year’s Global Media Forum, ‘Journalism Out Loud – Speak. Listen. Act.’, matters: It’s not just a theme or slogan for us — it’s the work we do every day to build more inclusive journalism,” he added.
Forbidden Colours in Belgium, which produces the podcast Beyond Queer Politics, is a LIMENet partner.
