The special issue “Gender Politics and Policy: Women and LGBTIQ+ Persons as Policy Advocates, Makers, and Takers” addresses the intersection of gender and public policy, an area often overlooked in both academia and policymaking, especially in the Italian context. The contributions examine how gender and LGBTIQ+ issues shape public policies by engaging with institutional frameworks, political actors, advocacy coalitions, and supranational influences.

This article investigates the introduction and consolidation of LGBTIQ+ policymaking in France and Italy over the last decade. By applying a policy entrepreneurship framework, the contribution explores how innovation emerged in both countries, examining the role of government actors, external pressures, and civil society involvement, with a focus on how coalitions (and lack thereof) play a critical role in these processes. The study shows that while both France and Italy developed LGBTIQ+ strategies, the stabilization of these policies varied significantly.

Over the past two decades, LGBTIQ+ rights have progressed significantly all over Europe, yet stark disparities persist. While some countries have advanced in LGBTIQ+ rights, others, like Italy, lag behind, illustrating the ongoing struggle for full equality across the continent. In this article, by relying on the ILGA Rainbow Index, which ranks countries based on a set of criteria, including legal protections, family rights, hate crime and hate speech legislation, legal gender recognition, and civil society space, we provide a detailed overview of the state of LGBTIQ+ policies and rights in Europe.

A partire dai risultati di due sondaggi originali, questo volume offre una fotografia inedita della politica LGBTQIA+ in Italia, esplorando da un lato le opinioni della popolazione generale sui diritti e le istanze LGBTQIA+ e, dall’altro – per la prima volta in Italia – le opinioni, i comportamenti e le attitudini politiche della popolazione LGBTQIA+. I risultati evidenziano una parziale accettazione dei diritti LGBTQIA+ da parte dell’opinione pubblica e un marcato deficit di cittadinanza, che colpisce in modo strutturale le persone LGBTQIA+, in particolare le persone trans e nonbinarie e quelle che subiscono più spesso violenze e discriminazioni.

This study analyses how populist radical right parties (PRRPs) strategically engage with LGBTIQ+ issues on social networking sites (X/Twitter and Instagram). The aim of this paper is to scrutinise the radical-right populist narratives in Italy to assess to what extent issues related to LGBTIQ+ rights matter for this party family.

This article proposes an analysis of discourse framing of LGBTIQ+ issues within the social media communication of two examples of populist radical right-wing parties: Lega (the League) and Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy). The analysis focuses on the emergence of «antilgbtqism» within PRRPs’ communication on Twitter/X to assess whether it appeared occasionally or in a relatively persistent manner.

Here, we explore the trajectory of LGBT+ policies in Italy, examining their evolution within the European framework of antidiscrimination and equality paradigms. We focus on three major Italian policy programs developed since 2013, and find a coexistence between antidiscrimination and equality paradigms in Italy under external (European) and internal (LGBT+ and anti-LGBT+ groups) pressure.

This article discusses the challenges faced by scholars involved in gender and LGBTIQ+ studies and research, within a context of increased attacks by anti-gender coalitions of social movements and parties. It highlights the precarious and vulnerable position of gender and LGBTIQ+ scholars in an academic environment set by neoliberal agendas and anti-gender rhetoric.

This book presents an innovative exploration of the rise of political forces that have coalesced around the anti-gender movement, shaping strategies that advocate novel intersections of religion, politicization of gender and sexuality, and radical and populist rejuvenation of conservative ideologies. This contribution holds significant relevance for scholars and students engaged in gender studies, religious studies, social movements, populism, political science, political sociology, political history, and Italian studies.

In recent years, the rising number of LGBTIQ+ politicians across the world has been matched by an increase in academic attention on which factors foster or hinder their careers. Here, we provide a comprehensive analytical review of the relevant literature, with the goal of illustrating both its synergies and imbalances.