Decoding LGBTQ Scapegoating & Communications Guidance
This report explores the connection between two escalating crises: the systematic targeting of LGBTQ communities and democratic backsliding worldwide.
It examines how the rhetorical, political, and physical attacks targeting the LGBTQ community are, in addition to a critical rights issue, a key tactic in the authoritarian playbook, cloaking themselves as culture war politics as usual.
LGBTQ scapegoating is not random. It is not a natural consequence of polarization or an expected backlash to rights advancements, but rather a strategy to deepen divisions and erode democracy.
To care about democracy is to care about LGBTQ scapegoating.
Read Decoding LGBTQ Scapegoating here.
The report provides a framework for better understanding LGBTQ scapegoating, identifying its political goals, and distinguishing it from “politics as usual.”
It outlines six goals of LGBTQ scapegoating:
Stigmatize: By censoring discussions and depictions of marginalized groups, perpetrators further stigmatize them, reinforcing their status as scapegoats.
Mobilize a Base: Turning LGBTQ communities into a common enemy energizes and consolidates political support among certain factions.
Win Elections: Exploiting fears related to the scapegoat helps gain electoral support and secure victories in political contests.
Polarize: Manufacturing controversies along fault lines unifies authoritarian movements and sows divisions within a political opposition.
Distract: Inflaming fear, disgust, and anger at scapegoats diverts attention from critical issues, government failures, or unpopular policies.
Normalize Political Violence: Targeting LGBTQ individuals through intimidation, violence, and militia activities desensitizes the public to violence against this group and society at large.
Importantly, some of these overlap with traditional political goals – for instance, winning elections. But when a group is scapegoated to achieve that goal, alarm bells should go off: this is not “politics as usual.”
Like other political strategies, scapegoating is not universally “successful” and will not always lead to authoritarianism. However, even in situations where these tactics have “limited success,” in addition to directly harming LGBTQ communities, these campaigns create a more permissive environment for further scapegoating, violence, and anti-democratic actions, and must be taken seriously.
Our hope is that this report supports journalists, communicators, and democracy defenders in better understanding, addressing, and discussing LGBTQ scapegoating and the critical threat to democracy that it represents. We also hope it supports LGBTQ communities as they continue to directly confront these attacks and their impact.
Read the full report here, an abridged version here, and a snapshot of how this is unfolding in the U.S. here.
We also offer communications guidance for responsibly framing and communicating around LGBTQ scapegoating here.
For questions or inquiries, please write to decoding@projectoverzero.org.