What LGBTQ Politics Teach Us About Navigating Crises in Human Rights

Illiberal Times, Inclusive Strategies: What LGBTQ Politics Teach Us About Navigating Crises in Human Rights

Over the past three decades, LGBTQ+ rights advanced at a remarkable pace across diverse regions—at least partly driven by transnational activism, pioneering governments, and evolving human-rights regimes. Yet these gains for equality increasingly face coordinated opposition and retrenchment. Drawing on nearly two decades of research, this lecture offers a periodized account of both dynamics: first, the “revolution in rights,” explaining why so many states adopted LGBTQ+ protections and why public attitudes shifted so quickly; then, the contemporary iteration of the pushback, tracing how religious-nationalist networks and conservative governments—enabled by global illiberal currents like Trumpism—increasingly opened international institutional spaces for counter-mobilization. Building on Ayoub’s work with Kristina Stoeckl, the lecture develops the “double helix” metaphor of norm contestation, demonstrating rival TANs reciprocal relationship in having to navigate each other’s presence and thus using related instruments for mutually exclusive ends.

The lecture then turns to new rejoinders by LGBTQ movements. It examines how activists can maintain their work during illiberal retrenchment by (a) rooting universal rights in local vocabularies, (b) cultivating empathy across divides, (c) chaining messages in electoral contexts, and (d) reframing and widening coalitions through inclusive, celebratory visibility. Drawing on research (solo and with coauthors) across three regions, Ayoub assesses when and why these repertoires shift credibility, defang threat narratives, and build durable support. Throughout, the talk distils implications for political science: the potentiality in learning from marginalized groups—often siloed by the discipline—that have longstanding experience operating, and resisting, under conditions of crisis.

This is a hybrid lecture with in-person and virtual tickets available.

The in-person lecture is taking place in Bush House (S) room 2.03. Please ensure you register for the appropriate tickets when ordering.

For virtual attendees, a link to the event will be provided closer to the date of the talk.

SPEAKER

Phillip M. Ayoub is Professor of Political Science at University College London and co-Editor of the European Journal of Politics & Gender. His award-winning research bridges international relations and comparative politics, focusing on transnational politics, sexuality and gender, norm diffusion, and social movements. He is the author of four books and volumes, including When States Come Out (Cambridge University Press, 2016) and The Global Fight Against LGBTI Rights (with Kristina Stoeckl, NYU Press, 2024), and his articles have appeared in many of the field’s leading journals. Further information can be found at www.phillipayoub.com.