A Nationalist Contradiction : Homonationalism and Nationalist Anti-LGBTQ Politics and Activism in Sweden

Sammanfattning: Homonationalism and nationalist anti-LGBTQ politics and activism are two geographical and historical processes which contradict each other, as the latter frequently targets the former (and vice versa). We see this contradiction in the global far-right attacks on LGBTQ people, rights, and spaces through discourse, politics, and violence, including in nation-states frequently thought of as progressively pushing LGBTQ rights forward through national legislation and shifting values among the population from homophobic to “LGBTQ friendly” (i.e. homonationalism). While this contradiction may be thought of as indicating flaws in linearly progressing democracies (a so-called “backlash” to LGBTQ rights), this thesis instead examines if and how these polar movements are unified through the struggle over the role of sexuality in nationalism. It does so by examining how nationalist anti-LGBTQ politics and activism have contributed to an evolving homonationalist discourse in Sweden. Drawing upon qualitative analyses of neo-Nazi and far-right anti-LGBTQ attacks and oppositions to LGBTQ spaces between 2016 and 2020, and responses to them, the thesis analyses the ways in which state hegemony and nationalist myths about an LGBTQ-inclusive Swedish state are re-articulated in different responses to anti-LGBTQ nationalism.The thesis consists of two parts: the first is a theoretical introduction to sexuality as constructed through nationalism, which also provides an outline of the thesis’ methodology. The second part consists of five research articles which together analyse events of nationalist sexual politics in Sweden and their connections to homonationalist discourse. The two first articles examine the economic and political contexts for Swedish homonationalism and nationalist anti-LGBTQ politics and activism. The third, fourth, and fifth articles analyse concrete nationalist anti-LGBTQ political and activist events and how they have affected and been shaped by (homo)nationalist discourse, policing, and legislation..