Eastern Europe: a conservative stronghold that predates Trump’s policies

Donald Trump advocates for anti-trans and binary rhetoric, aiming to establish a law recognizing only two genders. In the coming months, just as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has done statewide, Trump could gradually expand “Don’t Say Gay” laws nationwide. The main goal is to ban discussions around sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. Ron DeSantis justified this by stating, “classrooms will remain a safe place under the Parental Rights in Education Act.”

The LGBT rights containment is not exclusive to the United States. It is a part of a global trend spread across all continents, including Europe - and in the most exacerbated cases, Eastern Europe. Jarosław Kaczyński and Viktor Orban, politicians ideologically close to Trump, also pursue repressive policies towards the LGBT community. Russia set the precedent in 2013 when Putin banned the “propaganda” of “non-traditional sexual relations” aimed at minors. We can see a strong interinfluence on the issue between the ultra-conservative countries of Eastern Europe and the United States.

Poland under the previous conservative government is an example of what the United States could become. Similar to the “Don’t Say Gay” policy, the Czarnek law passed in 2022, by former Polish Minister of Education Przemyslaw Czarnek puts an end to awareness of LGBT issues in schools. Taking this rhetoric further, Przemyslaw Czarnek compares homosexuality to Nazism, and “ deviants” that “don’t have the same rights as normal people”. In 2024 the annual Rainbow map study, carried out by the LGBT organization ILGA-Europe, shows through a map that Poland is still at the end of the ranking.

In line with the refusal to raise awareness about LGBT issues within schools, Donald Trump, close to these authoritarian leaders, could deinstitutionalize LGBT rights. Schools and “Don’t Say Gay” laws appear to be an initial pretext for a long process of social muzzling.

Towards an “Orbanization of America”?

Viktor Orban and Donald Trump share the same conservative vision of society: reluctance towards abortion rights, rejection of LGBT ones, and a supposed return to traditional Christian values. Political analysts Zsuzsanna Végh and Jeremy Shapiro speak of  a possible “Orbanization of America” Orban already amended the Constitution in 2020 couples. Amnesty International affirmed that Hungary had “created a cloud of fear” prohibiting the “depiction” and “promotion” of homosexuality “since the adoption of the law essential information and other LGBTI-related content has become harder to access, particularly for children and young people”.

The rhetoric of Trump and his government on social networks especially on X — a platform owned by Elon Musk, one of the new president's confidants, who has been criticized for enabling homophobic and transphobic rhetoric — is very similar to Eastern European far-right leaders.

Europe, despite being the cradle of freedoms, is threatened by a strong wind of homophobia coming from Eastern authoritarian countries. Social struggles began despite repression: Georgia is currently affected by demonstrations on a major scale. It is clear that this mobilization is only the symptom of a regime that wants to be too authoritarian in a world where minorities are aware that their rights are never truly acquired.

The Trump government, in view of these social protests, will surely soften its approach to LGBT rights. Or on the contrary, it will remain firm in its anti-LGBT policy like its Polish and Hungarian allies.

By Farah El Bahoua

To go further on our January file dedicated to consequences of US elections about Europa, you can read our international relations and culture sections’ articles on our blog.

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