ABSTRACT
This study’s objective is to understand how, and in what ways, an international phenomenon such as Pride parades, which undeniably bear similarities in their formats, choreographies, actors, scripts and props, are nonetheless impacted by their national and local mobilizing contexts. Hence, the chapter identifies the factors which produce the differences we have observed in different mobilizing contexts. The analytical model used in the subsequent analyses weighs together political factors with cultural factors. In the model the degree of secularity in the country is an underlying factor, which influences both the cultural and the political context for LGBT Pride performances. In order to operationalize the cultural contexts public opinion is measured and the level of hate crimes in the country is estimated. In order to operationalize the political context, the degree of openness of the state to LGBT movement demands measured by LGBT friendly legislation, is weighed together with the support or non-support of political elite allies and third-party stakeholders, and the existence or non-existence of an organized countermovement. The model subsequently differentiates three categories: LGBT unfriendly (Poland and Italy), LGBT less friendly (Czech Republic, Mexico and Switzerland) and LGBT friendly (the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK).
