Boundaries of Belonging: Exploring EU Narratives on LGBTIQ+ Rights in Routine and Crisis Legitimization

The European Union (EU) has long anchored its identity and boundaries of belonging in normative commitments to European values, as outlined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). These values include equality, the rule of law, and respect for human rights. Increasingly, LGBTIQ+ rights have become important to the EU’s internal and external legitimization narratives, shaping boundaries of inclusion and exclusion. While these rights are important to the EU’s symbolic legitimization, they have also become sites of contention, reflecting tensions over the EU’s identity, supranational governance, and the different receptiveness of member states to incorporating LGBTIQ+ rights into political and policy processes. The 2020 Union of Equality (UoE) initiative launched by the von der Leyen Commission exemplifies the institutionalization of LGBTIQ+ rights as part of European values. Among its five strategies, the LGBTIQ Strategy 2020-2025 is particularly significant. However, backlash from some member states against associating LGBTIQ+ rights with EU values underscores the fragility of this narrative. Conservative, Euroskeptic, and far-right actors increasingly mobilize these rights to promote an alternative vision of Europe rooted in tradition and religion rather than tolerance and diversity. The increasing scholarly focus on LGBTIQ+ rights reflects not only legislative shifts and evolving public opinion but also questions about how EU actors use these rights in routine and crisis legitimization to define boundaries of belonging. Research has explored LGBTIQ+ policy development in EU institutions, the role of civil society organizations, domestic implementation of EU policies, resistance to LGBTIQ+ rights in member states, and their role in external policies. Scholars have also analyzed how the EU employs narratives like Market Europe, Social Europe, Europe of Rights, and Europe of Values to assert legitimacy. Yet, limited attention has been paid to how LGBTIQ+ rights specifically function as narrative resources, how these narratives are received by member states, and the boundaries of belonging they create. Furthermore, there is little exploration of the distinctions between routine and crisis legitimization in this context. The concepts of Rainbow and Freezer Europe provide valuable frameworks for understanding the research gap of how the EU uses LGBTIQ+ rights in its routine and crisis legitimization narratives. These concepts juxtapose progress, tolerance, and inclusivity with regression, intolerance, and exclusion. LGBTIQ+ rights thus offer a unique lens to examine tensions between the EU’s normative commitments, narrative legitimization, and internal polarization. This is evident in Hungary’s 2021 anti-LGBTIQ+ law, which sparked debates over European values and belonging. While Hungary framed the law as aligned with traditional EU values, EU actors opposed it, intensifying disputes over belonging. This study uses qualitative narrative analysis to investigate how the EU mobilizes LGBTIQ+ rights in routine and crisis legitimization. The Union of Equality’s LGBTIQ Strategy represents routine legitimization, while Hungary’s anti-LGBTIQ+ law serves as a crisis case. By applying Rainbow and Freezer Europe concepts, the research examines how EU narratives mediate tensions between values, governance, and contested belonging.