They Did It in Hungary; We Can Do It Here too.
AFT leaders meet with Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony. (L-R Stacy Davis Gates, President of AFT Illinois and the Chicago Teachers Union; Wendy Coleman, President of AFT Pennsylvania; The Honorable Gergely Karascony, Mayor of Budapest; Randi Weingarten, President of AFT and Albert Shanker Institute; Jeff Freitas, President of AFT California; and Jessica Tang, President of AFT Massachusetts.)
The attacks on our democracy aren’t happening in a silo. This is happening around the world, and it’s all connected.
I spent last week in Hungary with AFT President Randi Weingarten and three other AFT vice presidents: Illinois Federation of Teachers President Stacy Davis Gates, AFT Massachusetts President Jessica Tang and AFT Pennsylvania President Wendy Coleman. We had the opportunity to attend the Budapest Forum, where Randi spoke on a panel about resilient democracies in a fractured world. There was a sense of hope and a sense of urgency because, after this year’s election defeating authoritarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán, Hungary has a chance to get it right.
I’m a math teacher, not a civics or history teacher like Randi. For many of us, these concepts are just that: ideas removed from reality. But as a labor leader, I get to see them in play, and the discussions we had this week were about how we can make democracy real for people.
Democratic backsliding. Authoritarianism. Illiberal democracy. We know these are bad. But what do they mean in practice?
In Hungary we met with teachers and student activists, with politicians and members of civil society, with researchers and historians. The stories they told us painted a picture that was sometimes eerily similar to what we’re facing now in the United States. We had the chance to meet with Judit Lannert, the new minister of education and children’s affairs. When Jessica Tang talked about fighting book bans, the minister of education laughed in disbelief. She couldn’t believe that in the United States of America we were fighting book bans. We heard from teachers about how under Orbán’s regime, history was rewritten. They had to fight for honest history the way we’re fighting now. And one of the student protesters talked about how she was pressured to give up her right to protest by falsely charging her with a crime for protesting. In our country, we’ve seen protesters arrested too, like my friend David Huerta in California. We’re seeing the same tactics being used against us as Orbán used in Hungary.
It’s all connected. Project 2025 came from what its authors learned from Hungary. What they’re doing to New College of Florida here is a direct replication of what they did under Orbán’s regime. Vice President JD Vance came to Hungary to campaign for Orbán. Globally, far-right authoritarianism is on the rise; its proponents are supporting each other and learning from their successes. And it’s a threat to our freedom.
I went to West Point. I thought I’d have a long career serving our country. But I’m gay, so that wasn’t going to be an option for me when it was illegal to be gay in the military. I became a teacher and eventually a union leader, and in the course of my union work, I’ve had the privilege of being a voice for LGBTQ+ rights. Whether it’s my work on the AFT LGBTQIA+ Task Force or as a board member at Equality California Institute, I’m honored that I get to do this. In 2025, Orbán tried to ban the Pride parade in Budapest. But Mayor Gergely Karácsony stood up to Orbán and ensured that the Pride parade happened anyway. When I met Karácsony, I’ll admit that I got emotional when I thanked him for what he did. To have gone from not being able to authentically be myself to being a happily married gay man has been an incredible, beautiful journey, but to see and feel our rights taken away — that’s scary. That’s what democratic backsliding is. And that’s why this is the time for all communities fighting for rights and against oppression to rise up together, like they did when they all marched in the Pride parade in Budapest.
In Hungary, the people banded together. They said they had had enough with the corruption. Enough with the attacks on their rights. Enough of the strongman. It took them 16 years, in part because Orbán actively undermined the basics of democracy to hold power. We see the same thing happening here. We have a choice in November. I’m choosing freedom.
Ultimately, the election isn’t the end. If we win, we have to do something with it. We can’t go back to the way it was. We have to plot a new course forward; to improve lives; to give people, not corporations, rights; to build an even better and more secure democracy. That’s what they’re doing right now in Hungary. They don’t know what comes next, but they have hope. Their coalition doesn’t agree on everything, but they do know that the stakes are too high to miss this moment.
They did it in Hungary; we can do it here too.
(This piece originally appeared in AFT Voices.)