Suchergebnisse

State‐sponsored homophobia emerged in certain Central and Eastern European states in the past decade, with the denial of the right of assembly for gay pride marches. However, more recently there has been progress in the recognition of the fundamental democratic right of assembly. What accounts for this progress in fulfilling commitments enshrined in the European human rights treaties? This article proposes that the response of European organizations, in particular the Council of Europe and the European Union, as well as human rights nongovernmental organizations working in collaboration with local civil society organizations, have been critical to this progress. Previous literature has described a "boomerang" effect, in which aggrieved citizens use transnational activist networks to publicize human rights violations and put pressure on governments to fulfill their international legal commitments. To understand the functioning and effectiveness of the "boomerang" we introduce the concept of the "ricochet"—a process in which various institutions and civil society rapidly exchange information as well as political and legal argumentation. We posit that the ricochet is an integral process in the development of a European consensus on the human rights recognized by the European Court of Human Rights. Four cases have been selected for empirical analysis: Poland, Latvia, Serbia, and Russia. In analyzing the ricochet of information and argumentation between institutions and civil society, we find the consensus has been framed around the right of assembly, instead of the more contested area of human rights and sexual orientation.

This article focuses on the national and transnational strategies of five European Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender civil society organizations (CSOs) pressing for equality and non-discrimination. We present three modes of interaction between CSOs and their political environment. The first mode we label "morality politics". Arcigay in Italy and the Campaign against Homophobia in Poland are seemingly locked in this mode because they are confronted with a hostile and organized opposition, both in terms of public opinion and elite opinion. A second mode of interaction we label an "incremental change" mode and is the strategy pursued by Stonewall in the United Kingdom and the Hatter Society in Hungary, marked by discreet elite level lobbying. Finally, we introduce a third mode of interaction we label "high-profile politics". This mode is marked by highly visible public events, coalition seeking, cooperation with government, and transnational activity at the European level and abroad. This is a strategy possible by CSOs where there is a high degree of public support for equality and minimal partisan or religious opposition to the goals of the movement. The Dutch COC has been pursuing this "high-profile politics" mode of interaction in their political environment over the past few years. Adapted from the source document.

This article first traces the efforts of civil society organizations (CSOs) to press for equality and antidiscrimination measures in the Treaty of Amsterdam. The gradual Europeanization of social policy has led to the growing transnationalization of the goals and strategies of gay and lesbian CSOs, in which national groups learn and are assisted by groups in other countries in a horizontal process and in the creation of an umbrella organization at the European level in a vertical process of the movement's institutionalization. The article then presents an empirical investigation of the contemporary goals and strategies pursued by two national groups, Arcigay in Italy and the COC in the Netherlands. While the literature presents two possible 'modes of interaction' between the CSO and their political environment—either highly divisive 'morality politics' or an incremental 'interest group' mode of interaction—we find this must be joined by a third we call 'high profile politics.' This mode is marked by coalition seeking, highly visible public events, government support, and transnational activity at the European level and abroad. This is a strategy possible where there is a high degree of public support for equality and minimal partisan or religious opposition to the goals of the movement. The Italian Arcigay is currently in a 'morality politics' mode of interaction and the Dutch COC in a 'high-profile politics' mode of interaction with their political environment.