Rallying ‘round the drag: anti-gender mobilization and the mainstreaming of the far right

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the link between anti-gender mobilization and the mainstreaming of the far right. It addresses the question of to what extent and how the far right allies with ‘mainstream’ actors in the context of anti-gender protest. Drawing from a social movement approach, the article contributes a novel operationalization of the mainstreaming of the far right in terms of discourse coalitions and protest alliances, with anti-gender frames working as a ‘symbolic glue’ between the far right and the mainstream, but also fringe actors on the extreme right. As a case study, the article focuses on anti-gender mobilization in Germany, fathoming the critical case of far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). It adopts a localist perspective to analyze AfD's discourse coalitions and protest alliances in the context of a protest event against a ‘drag story hour’ in Munich in 2023. The qualitative protest event analysis demonstrates the only partial normalization of the far right in the context of anti-gender mobilization: While discourse coalitions between the far right and the mainstream have normalized, protest alliances remain a political taboo. Instead, at protest events the far right allies with fringe actors such as COVID-19 deniers, conspiracy activists, and right-wing extremists.