Radical Right, Anti-Gender Campaigns, and Policy: the cases of League and Fratelli d’Italia in Italy

Radical right parties have found a new wave of popularity across the world in the past few years, and this is also the case for Italy with League and Fratelli d’Italia. Since the last elections in 2018, when the League was part of the coalition at the Government, both parties have adopted approaches that legitimise the marginalisation of social minorities based on their gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, race, and citizenship. This happened when Matteo Salvini, leader of the League, was at the head of the Ministry of the Interior (2018-2019) and refused to let ONGs disembark refugees on Italian’s port, Lampedusa. Of particular importance has been the anti-Muslim approach that both parties have adopted, and the rejection of “the other”. Both parties have furthermore been resistant to abortion rights, supporting traditional family values. On this latter matter, it is also important to mention the refusal of the Zan Bill, in 2021, which would have guaranteed protection in situations of homo-bi-transphobia, and for which League and Fratelli d’Italia have contributed to its rejection. Giorgia Meloni, leader of Fratelli d’Italia, has also explicitly expressed her hostility towards same-sex parents, in a popular 2019 speech in Rome for a manifestation organised by Matteo Salvini. The aim of this paper is therefore to compare and analyse qualitatively, through an intersectional and trans-feminist lens, the two parties’ and leaders’ policy pledges and discourses, in the past three years. The aimed outcome is to provide evidence of how the politics of League and Fratelli d’Italia have marginalised and impacted social justice and policy-making.