As democratic backsliding and state-sponsored anti-gender politics intensify across Eastern Europe, especially in Orthodox countries - conducting empirical research on gender and sexuality faces unprecedented practical and methodological barriers. Drawing on qualitative research experience in Georgia, this presentation examines the methodological, ethical, and epistemological challenges of conducting fieldwork in an increasingly authoritarian climate where key institutional actors actively obstruct scientific inquiry. In Georgia, both the ruling elite (Georgian Dream) and the Georgian Orthodox Church operate as hostile gatekeepers, enforcing an empirical shutdown by systematically refusing interview requests and delegitimizing gender scholars. This hostility is further amplified by new legislative measures including the "Protection of Family Values and Minors" framework, which creates dangerous legal grey areas regarding what constitutes legitimate academic inquiry versus prohibited so called gender propaganda, pushing researchers toward self-censorship and legal uncertainty. To navigate these barriers, presentation explores adaptive methodological strategies, such as rerouting access through discourse analysis of digital material and studying disenfranchised civil society networks and their resistance. Crucially, it highlights the essential role of transnational support structures, specifically membership in a COST Action (CA23149) - “Democratization at stake? Comparing Anti-Gender Politics in CEE and NME countries” as a pivotal mechanism for sustaining critical scholarship. COST Action networking provides vital institutional backing, international visibility, cross-border research solidarity, and shared protocols for digital security and researcher care. By reflecting on these fieldwork realities, this presentation contributes to collective insights on how solidarity enables feminist scholarship to remain epistemologically resilient in contested environments.
