Over the past decade, the mobilization against trans rights emerge as a pivotal dimension of the broader “anti-gender” backlash. This paper seeks to explore the hypothesis of an Italian anti-trans policy coalition. The analysis focuses on the post-2018 period, which marked the first explicit references to gender identity as a public issue. The entry of the anti-gender coalition into the parliamentary arena signaled a shift from a diffuse anti-gender discourse to a politically structured anti-trans agenda, albeit still lacking formal legislative outcomes. The political moment that enabled the consolidation of anti-trans rhetoric in public debate coincided with the proposal of the Zan bill, which polarized the public sphere around notions such as “perceived identity” and “freedom of opinion,” placing trans subjectivities at the center of the political conflict.
The paper aims to define the contours of the public arena and the associated literature, to historically reconstruct the emergence of the Italian anti-trans agenda in continuity with anti-gender movements, and to map the composition and dynamics of the anti-trans coalition. In doing so, it reflects on how these processes contribute to the reconfiguration of contemporary political cleavages around gender and sexuality.
This contribution is part of an ongoing research project on the political organization of anti-trans mobilizations in Italy: the paper presents preliminary empirical findings. The conference participation will offer an opportunity to discuss the project’s guiding research questions: Which political arenas are most relevant to the consolidation of anti-trans coalitions? Which actors drive these dynamics, and how do they interact with institutional logics and policy agendas?
