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 transnational advocacy networks (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 co-authors) 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.

Date and time: October 1, 2026, at 17.00

Place: Vokiečių st. 10, 402 auditorium

Phillip Ayoub, Associate Professor, Diplomacy and World Affairs.
(Photo by Marc Campos, Occidental College Photographer)

Phillip M. Ayoub is a professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science at University College London. He is the author of four books and volumes, including When States Come Out: Europe’s Sexual Minorities and the Politics of Visibility (Cambridge University Press, 2016), and his articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, Social Forces, the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, the European Journal of International Relations, the European Journal of Political Research, the Review of International Studies, Mobilization, the European Political Science Review, the Journal of Human Rights, Social Politics, Political Research Quarterly, and Social Movement Studies, among others. Further information can be found under www.phillipayoub.com.