The Puzzling Resonance Of Political Homophobia : A case study exploring the relationship between framing and institutions involved in the elite driven anti-LGBTQ campaign in today’s Poland

Abstract: Although the world has experienced great progress in the area of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), the contemporary transnational turn towards nationalist, right-wing and populist politics has generated a backlash, primarily affecting women and members of the LGBTQ-community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning). Yet, opposition to gender and sexual equality, particularly in the European context, is undertheorized. Hence, this thesis sets out to explore and understand the dynamics of political homophobia as a conscious political strategy in Poland and how the homophobic rhetoric pursued by the governing party PiS and their allies has achieved resonance. That is, how anti-LGBTQ ideas have gained support as they echo the ideas, beliefs and values central to potential adherents. The advancements of political homophobia in today’s Poland is rather puzzling since there has not been an upswing in homophobic values among the population. Although the Polish society is not intrinsically homophobic, the dominating values, norms, rules and practices are generally patriarchal and heteronormative. Due to the heteropatriarchal bias of the institutional context, this thesis suggests that both informal and formal institutions may enhance the resonance of the ideas embedded in the anti-LGBTQ ideas framing. Drawing on framing theory and new institutionalism, this thesis develops a framework to analyze this dynamic and reciprocal relationship between framing strategies and the institutional context. The first section of the two-stepped analysis describes how LGBTQ has been framed by identifying the core framing tasks and various framing strategies while the second part outlines various formal rules and informal norms that have facilitated the campaign and identifies how these institutions are heteronormative. The main findings suggest that conservative elites have managed to enhance resonance for their anti-LGBTQ ideas by framing the issue in congruence with heteronormative informal norms, which are perceived to be fundamental for Polish national identity and by exploiting pre-existing formal regulations, which are seemingly neutral but produce heteronormative effects.