Shared Beliefs or Pragmatic Alliances? Coalition-Building Among Women’s and LGBTQ+ Rights Organizations in the European Union

The history of the women’s and LGBTQ+ rights movements is marked by both their shared commitment to building a more equal and inclusive society and the tensions that have emerged within and between them. The intersection of social identities that these movements seek to represent often amplifies existing experiences of privilege and marginalization or creates new ones. These dynamics have historically resulted in fundamental ideological differences and have complicated the establishment of shared policy goals, as exemplified by ongoing debates on issues such as surrogacy, transgender rights, and sex work. Nevertheless, in the face of growing transnational anti-gender mobilizations, the urgency to overcome ideological divisions and forge coalitions across differences has significantly increased. Focusing on the European Union (EU) and employing the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF), this study investigates the ideological foundations for cooperation between the women’s and LGBTQ+ rights movements in their shared struggle for gender and sexual equality. In previous work, we demonstrated the existence of a complex, multi-stakeholder network among women’s and LGBTQ+ rights activists operating at the EU level. Building on this foundation, the current study examines whether these alliances are grounded in shared beliefs or arise despite significant ideological differences. The empirical analysis draws on an original dataset of women’s and LGBTQ+ civil society organizations operating at the EU level, alongside a collection of publicly available documents authored by them. Through a large-scale qualitative analysis of these documents, semi-automated using OpenAI’s GPT model, we systematically investigate the types of beliefs that unite or divide these activists, ranging from deeply held principles such as equity and inclusivity to more pragmatic, issue-specific positions. We then assess the extent to which shared beliefs drive collaborative initiatives, providing new insights into the dynamics of coalition-building across these movements. According to ACF scholarship, coalitions with deeply shared fundamental beliefs tend to be more cohesive and resilient, enabling them to respond more effectively to external threats. In contrast, coalitions formed primarily around issue-specific beliefs are more prone to internal tensions and risks of fragmentation, which can weaken their ability to sustain collective action over time. Ultimately, understanding belief similarity is essential for evaluating the collective capacity of women’s and LGBTQ+ rights activists to counter anti-gender forces and safeguard gender equality and sexual and reproductive rights in the EU.