Queer Conspiracy Theories as Political Motif: A Theoretical Framework

Queer people’s exclusion from society, national identity, and civil rights – and their subsequent assumed or de facto transnational orientation – has repeatedly led to their association with espionage, treason, and transnational conspiracy. From Friedrich Engels warning Karl Marx in 1869 about homosexuals forming “a power in the state” and starting to secretly organize themselves, 1930/40s “homintern” conspiracy theories, the mass dismissal of US civil servants during the Cold War “Lavender Scare, to contemporary claims that the EU was controlled by a “gay lobby”, these narratives follow a strikingly similar pattern. They interweave homophobia with nationalism, transnational anxieties, anti-cosmopolitanism, and anti-elitism, leading to moral panics and the persecution of queer people. This paper develops a theoretical framework for understanding narratives of transnational queer conspiracies as a political "motif"—a recurring pattern that resurfaces in various forms across different historical and geopolitical contexts. Through comparative analysis of well-documented historical and contemporary examples, it identifies the recurring core elements of these conspiracy theories: transnationality, elite status, secrecy, treason, and illegitimate influence. The paper examines how these narratives have served as tools of political mobilisation for nationalist, conservative, and populist movements from the early 20th century to the present. Drawing on theories of nationalism, gender, and sexuality, the paper argues that queer conspiracy theories emerge from the intersection of queer people's exclusion from national citizenship with deep-seated anxieties about cosmopolitanism, unforeseen solidarities across class and national boundaries, and threats to the existing social order. By examining the persistence of these narratives across time and space, this paper illuminates the complex relationship between national identity formation, the gendered and sexualised construction of citizenship, and transnational anxieties, contributing to a deeper understanding of ongoing contestations surrounding LGBTIQ issues in Europe and beyond.