Part 2: LGBTQIA+ Politics and Policies

These articles highlight key research areas related to LGBTQIA+ politicians, LGBTQIA+ social movements, and the development of policies that advance or impede the rights of the LGBTQIA+ people. 

First, Manon Tremblay interviews openly gay, lesbian, and bisexual politicians in Canada. LGB politicians see themselves as empowered and as playing important symbolic roles: they are role models for the LGB community but also messengers who normalize non-heteronormative ways of being for the public at large.

Second, Scott N. Siegel, Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte and Brian Olinger examine parliamentary candidates’ attitudes towards marriage equality. They find that party membership alone cannot explain candidates’ views: religiosity increases opposition to same-sex marriage, which in turn means that policies promoting LGBTQIA+ rights will depend on parliamentarians’ secularism. 

Third, Angelika von Wahl examines how social movement organizations achieved the legal recognition of a third sex in Germany. She finds that when organizations refrain from hoarding opportunities to claim ownership and credit, then intersectional alliances are possible, which is how intersex, trans, and women’s groups united to lobby for the third sex designation. 

Fourth, Ov Cristian Norocel and Katarina Pettersson compare parliamentary campaigns related to same-sex marriage in Finland and Romania. They find that ‘anti-gender coalitions’ (those opposing LGBTQIA+ rights) are not comprised exclusively of radical right politicians and draw in some left parliamentarians. The anti-gender coalitions suffered defeat in both places, but the growing heterogeneity of their coalitions suggests their increasing appeal.  

Explore the other themes in the EJPG Student Reading List

Gender and International Relations

Gender equality and public policy 

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