Times of Change: LGBT+ and Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe

Among right-wing populist parties (RWPPs) in Western Europe, the field of LGBT+ politics has traditionally been held in rather low regard. For most of the past decades, it was regarded as bearing the mark of decadence and cultural decay, and either ridiculed, attacked, or ignored by RWPP actors. While there were always more liberal exceptions to that rule, political demands for queer emancipation remained on an obvious collision course with the policies most RWPPs considered worth promoting: stable social and sexual hierarchies, conservative family structures, and clearly distinguishable gender roles. This constellation, however, has been fundamentally challenged in recent years by two parallel developments: (1) An effective combination of growing social acceptance for queer identities and increasingly progressive legislation has rendered LGBT+ issues less controversial and contested in almost all of Western Europe. (2) At the same time, most RWPPs have identified Islam as their main opponent and are now cultivating the idea of Islamization as the principal danger Europe is facing. They pivot especially on popularizing the representation of Muslims as dangerous 'others' who allegedly want to overthrow democracy and destroy the liberal order in its entirety. This paper argues that both developments have caused many Western European RWPPs to reconsider their tone towards LGBT+ citizens and use mainstream demands for sexual equality as a political weapon aimed at Islam and its adherents. Drawing on findings from party platforms and public statements, it shows a variation of positional readjustment throughout the region as well as a strong effect of general issue polarization: Some RWPPs tend to incorporate sexual diversity in primarily exclusionist constructions of national or European identity (accepting it), whereas others remain skeptical and focus on promises of security and protection instead (tolerating it). Ultimately, the paper attempts to systemize these observations by developing a respective typology of RWPPs positions and stances.