Italian LGBT Activism Confronts Some Political Inopportunity Structures

According to the Rainbow Map 2013 established by the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) Europe , with a rate of “respect for human rights and equality” of 25%, Italy is one of the least protective or egalitarian European countries for sexual minorities. Although Italian legislators have never been committed in the extension of the field of “sexual democracy” , the Italian Parliament is likely to be among European countries with the highest rate of openly gay, lesbian, and transgender MPs. How then can this Italian paradox – that sees, on the one hand, a movement strong enough to bring LGBT individuals from its ranks into Parliament and, on the other, an inability to achieve similar levels of legal reforms as neighboring European countries – be explained? the model of political opportunity structures, which scholars use to explain how social movements navigate complex relationships within the political field to mobilize collective action, may not be best for assessing the Italian case. Rather, it seems more appropriate to focus on the political inopportunity structures that LGBT movement have had to face for decades, and that have produced a situation of high minority stress that contributes to a certain level of demobilization and the emergence of internal critiques. At the same time – I would argue here as a hypothesis – these political inopportunity structures have also produced what I would call a phenomenon of activist resilience: a dynamic of adaptation and permanent reconfiguration of the space of LGBT activism to address these structural barriers. Far from being reduced to a depressed condition, the LGBT movement remains strongly present throughout Italy – the number of groups and associations has grown – and even reinforced at the local level where it establishes and manages targeted partnerships and projects with local administrations.