New Publication: “Beyond homonormativity versus anti-normativity: Recognising transformative practices of rainbow families in rural alpine Switzerland”

Rainbow families are often framed through an urban, Western-centric lens—either as symbols of progress or as outliers in spaces presumed to be inhospitable. But what happens when we listen to LGBTQ+ parents in rural areas?

Our research, conducted in collaboration with Swiss rainbow families in the Alpine canton of Valais, challenges dominant narratives of homonormativity and anti-normativity. Instead of fitting neatly into categories of assimilation or resistance, these families engage in everyday acts of change. They navigate ambivalent village spaces, finding both safety and surveillance, invisibility and hostile visibility, while carving out new possibilities for belonging.

Their lived experiences show that transformative politics don’t just happen in city centers or through subcultural politics. The families in our study create change through engaging teachers, discussing, complaining, insisting and seeking regional platforms to speak about their experiences.

What does this mean for how we study and support LGBTQ+ communities beyond metropolitan centres?

The article can be accessed here.

New Publication: “Post-homophobic imaginaries amongst the far-right in Germany and Switzerland”

Alongside violently opposing gender and sexual equalities, far-right parties in Western Europe have increasingly denied their political positions as homophobic. This article explores how far-right party actors in Germany and Switzerland actively use liberal discourses to advance reactionary gender and sexual politics beyond outright opposition. It queries how party actors consolidate hetero-patriarchal ideological commitments with a desire to include homosexual subjects within the parties’ respective ideologies. This study argues that reactionary actors in Germany and Switzerland are highly adaptive to the ‘post-homophobic’ discursive terrain they navigate. In doing so, openly gay and lesbian actors within far-right parties and their allies are not operating in a vacuum. They can draw on an expansive archive of mainstream political discourses, including normative ideas about the neoliberal family, a gendered economy of reproduction and the potent construction of homophobic immigrants. Our analysis thus demonstrates that liberal ideas around sexuality are not always overtly opposed to but also actively invested in for reactionary gains.

The article can be accessed here.