Constructions of LGBTQI+ rights and claims in lay discourse in Greece: Liberal dilemmas and sexual citizenship boundaries

Abstract

AbstractThis study explores ways in which diverse LGBTQI+ claim frames are sedimented in Greek everyday discourse. Specifically, it is interested in the identification of the argumentative resources that inform lay constructions of LGBTQI+ claims and rights, as well as of their potential social implications. The research data are drawn from seven focus groups, conducted in Thessaloniki, Greece and analysed by the conceptual tools of Critical Discursive Social Psychology. According to the analysis, liberal dilemmas over difference, visibility, and equality are mobilized. In particular, when accounting for violence and discriminations against LGBTQI+ community members, participants construct a normative hierarchy of exclusion, based on alleged differences between sexual and gender‐related categories. Notably, in the context of arguing over different claim‐making practices, participants prioritize the projection of uniformity – instead of difference – through non‐provocative, consensual claiming actions. While liberal concepts and subsequent dilemmas inform these constructions, “liberalism” is also represented as the rhetorical other, when participants prioritize intersectional claims over (sexual and gender‐related) identity politics. Finally, participants' discourse is informed by tensions between oriental and occidental ideological patterns. A juxtaposition between Western/European liberalism and Eastern backwardness is used to challenge homonormative perceptions, which are constructed as a means of de‐radicalization.