Authors

Rasa Navickaite¹;  ¹ Vilnius University Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Lithuania

Discussion

This paper presents the interim results of the ongoing research into development of homophobic rhetoric and the anti-gender alliance in post-socialist Lithuania. Employing the discourse coalition framework (Edenborg 2023) the research examines the formation of political, social and religious alliances that present themselves as being “anti-gender” and in protection of “traditional values”. The paper in particular focuses on the transformation from the explicitly homophobic rhetoric, which was prevalent in the 1990s, to the more obscure terminology of “genderism” of the 2010s, and the related development of a socio-political and religious alliance in Lithuania. My insights are based on the analysis of the media sources from the period between 1994 and 2012 and interviews with politicians and activists (previously) involved in anti-gender mobilization. The paper presents, first, the development and change of the main actors, involved in the public discussion as well as decision making on LGBT issues (journalists, politicians, experts, priests, etc.). Second, it examines how the image of sexual minorities changed over time, namely, which qualities were attributed to LGBT people and which narratives were associated with them, constructing this diverse group of people as a monolithic social actor. The paper treats political homophobia as a “conscious political strategy” (Bosia and Weiss 2013b), which takes various forms and has political benefits for those employing it. Being the first systematic research into the development of homophobic rhetoric and the anti-gender mobilization in Lithuania, the paper traces parallels with similar developments in neighboring Russia, Poland, other European countries, and transnationally (Kuhar and Paternotte 2017; Graff and Korolczuk 2021).