Sexuality securitized: how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reconfigures (anti-)LGBTQ politics in Eastern Europe

This article examines how the shifting security landscape following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is reconfiguring (anti)-LGBTQ politics in Eastern Europe. Drawing on securitization theory, we unravel the changing construction of LGBTQ rights as a security issue in Ukraine and Georgia. We posit that securitization of sexuality occurs at the intersection of processes taking place at multiple scales: nation-building, in its imbrication with militarized conflicts, and EU-Russia geopolitical competition. We argue that Russia’s war has led to diverging paths regarding anti-genderism and political homophobia in each country. In Ukraine, we identify a move towards desecuritization, through the incorporation of (some) sexual minorities into the struggle against Russian invasion. In Georgia, the ruling elites’ attempts to retain power in a complex geopolitical landscape have crystallized the securitization of LGBTQ people as a threat from which society has to be protected. The article suggests that a major security crisis can result in differential and ambiguous outcomes for (anti-)LGBTQ politics, both across geopolitical locations and within a single national space. Overall, it advances our understanding of how anti-genderism and political homophobia connect with geopolitical dynamics in Eastern Europe and beyond.