Intersectional and Transnational Coalitions during Times of Crisis: The European LGBTI Movement

This paper explores two overarching questions that inform our understanding of political intersectionality in movement coalition building work: When and why do alliances across social justice movements exist? And how do limited material resources affect the intersectional consciousness of the movement and the nature of coalitional building work? To answer these questions, I conducted an expert survey to assess the intersectional consciousness of the European LGBTI movement during times of severe financial crisis. The findings suggest that the movement seeks to be more inclusive than it actually is on the ground, where middle-upper class gay men still dominate decision-making procedures. Furthermore, while cross-movement alliances are frequent, they are context-specific and predominantly facilitated by INGOs and European institutions. I argue, somewhat paradoxically, that intersectional consciousness is most present at the transnational level, where the potential for brokering cross-movement relationships is high, and that the financial crisis has heightened that consciousness. Indeed, groups on the ground struggle with realizing the political potential of intersectionality to disrupt everyday power dynamics inherent in the movement; and times of scarcity heighten awareness by generating a sense of shared threat and challenging INGOs to think pragmatically about cooperating for access to limited resources.