How Political Genderphobia unites Right-Wing Populists and Religious Fundamentalists: The Case of Gender-sensitive Education Reforms in Germany

The introduction of gender-sensitive (sexuality) education reforms in Germany´s federal educational systems since 2013 has raised strong resistance by an alliance of religious forces and the populist right. Arguing against “gender-mainstreaming” or “sexualization of children”, they jointly defend a naturalist heterosexual gender order. Framing the pluralist socio-cultural meaning of gender as “gender ideology” and enemy for “our society”, they promote a politics of fear (Wodak). Whereas in Europe such illiberal activism against gender-equality policies – here conceptualized as political genderphobia – prevails in Catholic-majority countries, it surprises in the denominationally-mixed and secularizing German context. Analyzing the relevance of religion for genderphobic opposition, the study reveals that in Germany Christian-fundamentalists sidelining mainline Catholicism and Protestantism took the lead for organizing genderphobic protests and helped including their demands into the party-program of the radical right “Alternative for Germany” (AfD). Their arguments, however, display merely German conservative and right-wing ideas against the reforms from 1968.