ABSTRACT
The chapter looks at the framing and counterframing of gender and sexual equality issues by the traditionalist and LGBTIQ movements, namely the ways in which the public narratives are articulated and how the different understandings are justified. I find that actors do not only aim at ideological consistency when faced with “gender” as a campaign issue, but also consider tactical opportunities as they are constrained by the behavior and framing choices of their opponents and are therefore adaptive to different events. Shifts in the discursive opportunity structure – during political and electoral events in particular – bring about adjustments in the discursive repertoire of the movements, through multiple processes such as frame-saving and frame-debunking, mirroring, embracing and alignment. The chapter highlights in particular the tension faced by the movements when faced with reaching in or reaching out dilemmas. It shows a dialogical analysis of the frames of protest highlighting the ways in which the LGBTIQ movement and its opponents have produced their strategies in interaction with one another, and particularly the co-creation of a discursive field on gender and sexuality in Italy within the time frame of the contention under analysis.
