This paper proposes a theoretical framework adapted to a comparative analysis of recent gay and lesbian activism in Western, consolidated and secularised democracies on the one hand, and in more or less transitional political systems in Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the wider post-Soviet space, on the other hand. This framework draws on key concepts of social movement research (POS, movements and countermovements, discursive framings) and on the literature on the public/private distinction from a gender perspective. We namely discuss what “political opportunity structures” amount to in different political systems and regimes, and what it means to politicise the “private” in traditional liberal democracies as opposed to post-communist democracies. We also raise the issue of interactional movement dynamics, alliance building within the LG(BT) community and beyond (feminist movements etc.), and how these dynamics are affected by the structure of political competition, countermovements in particular.
