Movement/countermovement interaction and instrumental framing in a multi-level world: rooting Polish lesbian and gay activism

Abstract

This article explores how movements frame their claims and identities in response to opposing movements. We build on previous scholarship by tracing how movements instrumentally navigate such a response – aligning new frames with their old ones – as interactions between opposing movements persist. The case of Poland demonstrates how the lesbian and gay (LG) movement’s frames developed from embracing universal and European themes to more rooted politics. We show how external discursive opportunities surrounding European Union accession shaped the frames of both the movement and its opposition around similar resonant themes, though with distinct interpretations. The countermovement converged around a frame of external forces imposing values on the nation – largely in a differentiated response to the international human rights frames touted by the LG movement initially. The LG movement responded strategically by emphasizing its Polishness in frames that signal a far more rooted politics of sexuality than before. These findings confirm much of what research has established concerning the relationship between opposing movements, but they also go beyond it, exploring how multi-level discursive opportunities can emerge simultaneously for both movements, leading to a contest of interpreting the politically potent symbols that come to the fore. Drawing on multiple years of fieldwork with Polish civil society actors, we use content analysis to trace the trajectory of the LG movement’s frames, making the crucial point that they are shaped by ongoing movement/countermovement interactions, as well as the multi-level discursive context in which they operate.