King’s College London recently hosted the launch of Transnational Anti-Gender Politics, a timely volume that examines the rapid spread of coordinated campaigns against gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights across borders. Bringing together leading scholars, activists, and policymakers, the event explored how these “anti-gender” movements have moved from the political margins to the heart of mainstream debate-shaping legislation, influencing electoral outcomes, and challenging established human rights frameworks.Against a backdrop of rising authoritarianism and cultural backlash in Europe, Latin America, and beyond, the book launch offered both critical analysis and urgent reflection on what is at stake when gender itself becomes a global battleground.
Contextualising transnational anti gender politics within contemporary global debates
As lawmakers,activists and scholars grapple with rising hostility to feminist,LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights,the book speaks directly to debates that now shape policy agendas from Brasília to Budapest.Rather than treating these flashpoints as isolated “culture wars”, it traces how well-funded networks, think tanks and faith-based organisations circulate shared scripts, legal strategies and digital narratives across borders. In doing so, it shows how contestations over curricula, bodily autonomy and family law have become litmus tests for wider struggles over democracy, sovereignty and the meaning of “rights” in an age of polarisation.
The launch brings these dynamics into sharp focus by placing research findings alongside current global developments in:
- Human rights governance – from UN negotiations to regional courts
- Electoral politics – where “gender ideology” is weaponised in campaigns
- Digital ecosystems – shaping transnational disinformation and mobilisation
- Civic space – including strategic litigation and restrictions on NGOs
| Region | Key Fault Line |
| Europe | Legal rollbacks on gender recognition and reproductive rights |
| Latin America | Clash between feminist “green wave” and conservative coalitions |
| Africa | Contests over sovereignty in negotiations on sexual rights |
Inside the King’s College London book launch academic voices challenges and key arguments
From the first panel,it was clear that the event was not a routine academic gathering but a live laboratory of ideas. Scholars from law, sociology, political science and gender studies mapped how anti-gender campaigns travel across borders, borrowing language, funding streams and digital tactics from one another. Speakers highlighted how these movements cloak themselves in the rhetoric of “family values”, “religious freedom“ and even “human rights”, while advancing policies that restrict reproductive autonomy, LGBTQ+ rights and thorough sex education. The discussion repeatedly returned to the tension between local specificities and global coordination, as participants examined how the same slogans appear in Warsaw, São Paulo and London with subtle but strategic adaptations.
- Key themes: coordination across borders, legal backlash, role of digital media
- Debated concepts: “gender ideology”, populism, moral panic
- Stakeholders: NGOs, religious lobbies, think tanks, grassroots activists
| Argument | Focus | Challenge Raised |
|---|---|---|
| Anti-gender as global project | Transnational networks | Tracking opaque funding flows |
| Law as battleground | Courts, constitutions | Balancing rights vs. “values” claims |
| Knowledge under pressure | Universities, research | Academic freedom and safety |
Debate grew especially sharp around how to respond without reinforcing the very frames anti-gender actors deploy. Some contributors argued for careful engagement with conservative publics, while others stressed the need to confront disinformation head-on and refuse false equivalences in media and policy arenas. There was broad agreement that researchers are now part of the story: they face coordinated harassment,online targeting and political interference when their work challenges entrenched hierarchies. Yet the room also pulsed with a sense of strategic urgency, as participants exchanged concrete ideas for building cross-movement alliances, strengthening evidence-based advocacy and using comparative research to anticipate the next wave of backlash before it arrives.
Implications for policy making from local struggles to international governance frameworks
Speakers underscored how campaigns against gender studies, sexual education, and LGBTQ+ rights rarely remain confined to national borders; instead, they travel through networks of think tanks, religious alliances, and populist parties that shape policy language from municipal school boards to UN negotiating rooms. This circulation of ideas compels governments and international organisations to rethink how they draft legislation, fund research, and monitor rights violations. Rather than treating anti-gender mobilisation as a local anomaly, policymakers are urged to recognize it as a coordinated transnational strategy that influences:
- Education policy through curricular rollbacks and textbook censorship
- Health frameworks by restricting reproductive and trans-affirming care
- Funding priorities for civil society and academic research
- Diplomatic agendas in UN, Council of Europe, and EU negotiations
Panel discussions highlighted emerging tools for responding to these dynamics, stressing that effective governance requires both legal safeguards and narrative interventions capable of countering disinformation. Participants called for closer collaboration between scholars, activists, and civil servants to translate critical research into concrete regulatory language, impact assessments, and accountability mechanisms. In particular, they pointed to the need for:
- Integrated human rights monitoring that tracks anti-gender initiatives across borders
- Evidence-based communication strategies to counter moral panic and misinformation
- Cross-ministerial task forces linking justice, education, health, and foreign affairs
- Resilient funding ecosystems that protect gender-focused programmes from political swings
| Level | Policy Focus | Key Challenge |
|---|---|---|
| Local | School curricula | Pressure from parent groups |
| National | Family and health law | Populist legislative agendas |
| Regional | EU equality directives | Member state vetoes |
| Global | UN rights frameworks | Coordinated diplomatic blocs |
Recommendations for researchers activists and institutions responding to anti gender movements
Speakers urged scholars, campaigners and universities to move beyond reactive statements and towards coordinated, evidence-based strategies that foreground lived experience. This involves building agile research coalitions that track cross-border narratives, collaborating with journalists to translate complex findings into accessible stories, and investing in digital security and care protocols for those facing targeted harassment. Activists were encouraged to document attacks systematically, share anonymised data with researchers, and use this knowledge to expose how funding, messaging and legal tactics travel between countries. Institutions, simultaneously occurring, were reminded that neutrality in the face of orchestrated dehumanisation is itself a political stance, and that robust public positions, clear complaints procedures and visible support for affected staff and students can blunt the chilling effect of anti-gender campaigns.
Throughout the discussion, participants proposed building everyday alliances rather than one-off symbolic gestures, focusing on resilience, protection and narrative change. Practical steps included:
- For researchers: co-author cross-border reports,publish open-access briefs,and train early-career scholars in risk-aware fieldwork.
- For activists: develop rapid-response communication teams, use creative arts to counter disinformation, and center communities most impacted.
- For institutions: fund long-term monitoring projects, safeguard academic freedom in policy, and embed gender expertise in leadership decisions.
| Actor | Immediate Step | Long-Term Aim |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | Publish clear policy briefs | Shape national and EU debates |
| Activist | Track and report incidents | Build legal and media leverage |
| Institution | Issue protective guidelines | Normalise gender-informed governance |
Insights and Conclusions
As the evening drew to a close, the discussion at King’s College London made clear that “Transnational Anti-Gender Politics” is more than a timely academic volume; it is a call to rethink how scholars, activists and policymakers understand the global circulation of backlash against gender and sexual rights.
By situating local struggles within a wider transnational framework, the book and its contributors underscored the urgency of comparative research and cross-border collaboration at a moment when “anti-gender” campaigns are rapidly gaining ground. The launch highlighted not only the complexity and coordination of these movements, but also the growing network of researchers working to document, analyse and contest them.
In a political climate where gender and sexuality remain flashpoints in broader battles over democracy and human rights, the conversations sparked at King’s are unlikely to end with this event. Rather, they are poised to inform future research agendas, public debate and policy responses well beyond the walls of the university.
