No to Gender - Yes to what exactly? Insights into the European anti-gender movement

Backsliding from and within internationally recognised norms as well as the organised public backlash against sexual and reproductive health and rights as well as human rights of LGBTIQ* persons is currently a problem across large parts of Europe. On 30 March 2021, members of the Polish Parliament passed a bill to parliamentary committees that could see Poland withdraw from the Istanbul Convention and draft a new Convention of the Rights of the Family. The name of the proposed Polish law “Yes to Family – no to Gender” reflects well the central tenets of a transnationally organised anti-gender movement in Europe.

In this newsletter, we pose the question “No to what exactly?” and provide an introduction to the emergence, main lines of argumentation, and actors of the transnational anti-gender movement in Europe. To do so, we also take a look at the specific case of the Istanbul Convention. Furthermore, the newsletter provides insights into three focal topics: transnational financing structures of the anti-gender movement, increasing anti-trans attacks and corresponding counterstrategies, as well as gender-based cyber violence.