Tensions in rights: navigating emerging contradictions in the LGBT rights revolution

Abstract

Few revolutions in rights have emerged as suddenly, and with such intensity, as the sweeping changes we have observed around LGBT 2 rights in the last two decades. In many states, these monumental changes have transformed many LGBT people from the proverbial "other"-often perceived as criminal and degenerate-into respected and sometimes even celebrated members of society. Coming out of the depths of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, few would have predicted the major victories in rights many states afford LGBT people in 2018. From the passage of gender recognition in Colombia and Malta to same-sex marriage in Ireland and South Africa, the diversity of states that address such norms have surprised even the most pessimistic onlooker. As such, LGBT rights constitute an intriguing example of unexpected and transformative social change on a global scale. Yet, these successes have not gone unchallenged. In line with the impetus for this volume, LGBT human rights stand at particularly crucial crossroads in contemporary world politics: both expanding and contracting, deepening and collapsing. With the rejection of claims made by LGBT movements in many states, and amidst a global politics marred by exclusionary populism and nationalism, LGBT rights are increasingly contradicted on the world stage. Such contradictory claims are both more refined and disseminated in global politics-often in very similar ways-by powerful actors (including states and INGOs) operating in transnational politics. For example, the promotion of family values/traditional values and religious liberty dominate contemporary global discourse. From Russian President Vladimir Putin's commitment to defend states from a "Gay-European" threat to the campaign opposing the Colombian FARC peace accord on the basis of its "gender ideology"-LGBT advocates operate in an increasingly polarized world. It is a world defined by serious contradictions in the interpretations of the very rights that have in recent decades recognized the human dignity of LGBT people in many corners of the globe. This chapter explores the tensions between the transnational diffusion of LGBT rights and a "traditional values"-politik championed by an emerging global opposition, as well as the instrumental reframing and translation of "traditional values" and "family values" norms by LGBT activists as a direct response. In doing so, the chapter looks at pathways of influence for LGBT movements in a world riddled with new types of global contradictions. It addresses two core questions that guide the volume. First, on the global contradiction in rights: Where do we see contradictions in the logics or

Transnational Backlash and the Deinstitutionalization of Liberal Norms: LGBT+ Rights in a Contested World

“…These illiberal actors engage in similar processes of norm diffusion such as the strategic re-articulation of norms through vernacularization to fit particular contexts, but intentionally vernacularize, or "translate," norms to have antithetical resonance with local audiences. This antithetical resonance then induces perceptions of threat within domestic populations and motivate the necessity of a state policy response (Ayoub 2019;Nuñez-Mietz and García Iommi 2017). As such, the long-held assumption that increasing exposure to the international community is productive toward enacting liberal reforms is greatly challenged, because the characterization of the "international" (and the actors comprising it) is itself changing.…”

“…Importantly, I conceptualize anti-LGBT+ networks as varied, multidimensional, and loosely connected sets of actors with potentially competing interests but currently aligned toward a mutual goal of countering the advancement of LGBT+ rights while promoting an alternative cultural agenda. What makes these networks illiberal is the dual strategy of attempting to undermine the core logic of individualism that underlies LGBT+ rights within the larger human rights regime (Velasco 2018) while promoting the supremacy of traditional corporate bodies (e.g., family, nation, faith) as justification (Ayoub 2019;Frank and Moss 2017;Korolczuk and Graff 2018).…”

“…These networks of actors co-opt the strategies and discourses of their pro-LGBT+ counterparts to reframe LGBT+ norms as existential threats to the family and religion, sovereignty and the nation, and/or children's well-being and population demographics. The success and prominence of LGBT+ issues within the global arena, therefore, increases opponents' perceptions of existential threat and motivate them to enact restrictive LGBT+ policies to inhibit the advancement of this threat (regardless of the validity of such claims) (Ayoub 2014(Ayoub , 2016(Ayoub , 2019Boyle et al 2015;Buss and Herman 2003;Korolczuk and Graff 2018;Nuñez-Mietz and García Iommi 2017). Consequently, greater country-level integration into the international community -long used to explain the adoption of liberal norms -enables backlash as well.…”

Foreign Norm Entrepreneurs’ Misinformation and Disinformation Narratives on LGBT+ Rights in Europe

“…There are clear signs of a backlash against equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, (LGBT+, where the plus represents all non-conforming sexualities and gender identities, as well as heterosexual allies), which is not characteristic only of Europe, but increasingly visible in transnational politics where conservative norm entrepreneurs are challenging legal reforms and actively campaigning for an interpretation of human rights that excludes non-conforming sexualities and gender identities (Encarnación, 2017;Ayoub, 2019). A backlash is understood as "a large, negative, and enduring shift in opinion against a policy or group that occurs in response to some event that threatens the status quo" (Bishin et al 2016:626), and can enjoy varying degrees of active support from different public figures, non-state actors and/or elected officials.…”

“…Although political homophobia across the European territory enjoys domestic support in Central and Eastern Europe, there is plenty of evidence that foreign-state actors and international norm entrepreneurs are actively instigating and exploiting the diverging opinions on LGBT+ rights in the European Union to promote an ideological agenda or political goals (Ayoub, 2019;Archer and Provost, 2020;Karlsen, 2019:1;Roguski, 2019;Stoeckl and Medvedeva, 2018;Stoeckl 2018Stoeckl , 2020. The term norm entrepreneurs, coined by Sunstein (1996) simply refers to people or groups interested in changing social norms.…”