TOGETHER WE STAND? An analysis of the digital connections developed by LGBTQIA* collective actors

Cooperative relations between civil society organisations (CSOs) have been extensively analysed in social movement literature. With the diffusion of information and communication technologies (ICTs), scholars have increasingly scrutinised interactions formed in the digital sphere of collective actions. Organisational characteristics, cognitive factors, and external socio-political conditions are shown to shape the emergence and duration of cooperative inter-organisational ties. However, these findings mainly concern within-field and offline relations. It is not yet clear whether such factors similarly contribute to cross-field and digital interactions. Within this framework, the LGBTQIA* (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersexual, asexual, and others) collective action field has often been described as both internally fragmented and externally isolated. However, recent studies have observed the emergence of local cooperative events between LGBTQIA* organisations and other collective actors. This paper aims to address these concerns by considering how LGBTQIA* organisations interact, communicate, and promote common events on digital platforms. In particular, it intends to analyse how collective action frames may accompany the digital relations in different contexts over time. To do so, this paper compares discrete networks resulting from public interactions on Facebook between LGBTQIA* organisations located in two European metropolises (Milan and Madrid) at three points in time (2012, 2015, 2019). After mapping within- and cross-field digital relations, the analysis examines whether collective action frame elements are associated with the observed ties. By doing so, this paper aims to contribute to literature on collective actions in two ways: on the one hand, it articulates an initial investigation of how LGBTQIA* collective actors may make use of digital platforms to establish within- and cross-field digital interactions; on the other hand, it proposes a preliminary exploration of the factors that may encourage the development of such interactions.