{"id":5143,"date":"2026-01-21T16:48:54","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T16:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/global-social-challenges\/?p=5143"},"modified":"2026-01-21T16:48:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T16:48:54","slug":"religion-fuel-to-the-flame-of-the-right-wing-anti-gender-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/global-social-challenges\/2026\/01\/21\/religion-fuel-to-the-flame-of-the-right-wing-anti-gender-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"Religion: Fuel to the Flame of the Right Wing Anti-Gender Agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Article by\u00a0Leah Lipsey Swarbrick<\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0Neto Torres on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n

We live in a rampant forest fire of gender warfare, where the far right seek to burn down the gains of women and the LGBT communities in pursuit of traditional Christian beliefs. The gender culture war is at the forefront of political debate, as we come to question why in the 21st century, so many are looking to renew the social norms of the past.<\/p>\n

Gender is complex, varying in definition from one person to another. However, I am lucky, safe from the tumult of this debate, as I feel truly represented by the word \u2018female\u2019; I fit in the binary, that Western Christian religion has established as the \u2018norm\u2019.<\/p>\n

Gender politics, bring into question what is \u2018normal\u2019, creating a culture war. The far right and their anti-gender-based rhetoric, mirror the ideology of the Christian Church, arguing for biological essentialism, where gender and sex are rooted in nature and follow a strict binary of \u2018male\u2019 and \u2018female\u2019. The Church has established the idea of \u2018natural law\u2019<\/a>[1]<\/a> where biology and thus social hierarchy is \u2018God-given\u2019. However, the liberal faction of this \u2018gender war\u2019 oppose sexual dimorphism and argue that sex and gender are socially constructed and based on how a person defines their own body.<\/p>\n

To understand how the anti-gender movement has established itself in mainstream politics, we must investigate the relationship between the far right and the Christian Church. \u00a0In \u2018Anti-Gender Politics in the Populist Movement\u2019 Graff and Korolczuk argue that towards the end of the 20th century, the Church felt threatened by the idea of the \u2018post-binary gender\u2019 and feminist progress. This led to neo-conservative actors speaking out, such as Dale O\u2019Leary (a US-based Catholic journalist)[2]<\/a>. O\u2019Leary published \u2018The Gender Agenda\u2019 in 1997, highlighting a new issue: \u2018gender ideology\u2019, and arguing that feminist and LGBTQ movements were anti-family. The Vatican embraced the new anti-gender movement, openly speaking against the liberal attack on the traditional family (nuclear\/heterosexual family) and publishing works, like the \u20182003 Lexicon: Ambiguous and Debatable Terms Regarding Family Life and Ethical Question<\/em><\/a>\u2019.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

These ideas draw many parallels with the far rights desire to protect families and traditional values. Graff and Korolczuk discuss how many of the Church\u2019s principles have now been adopted across right-wing sects and used to establish global institutions. For example, the ultra-conservative network \u2018Tradition, Family and Property\u2019 established in 1960 in Brazil, is behind anti-gender projects set up in Poland, such as \u2018The Ordo Iuris\u2019 and in Croatia, such as \u2018Vigilare Foundation\u2019 [4]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The US is also an example of right-wing politics and religion working together, as \u2018white Evangelicals have become the bedrock of the Republican Party<\/a>\u20195<\/sup>. From Reagan\u2019s campaign in 1979 to Trump\u2019s campaigns in 2016\/20\/24, Republicans have received essential support from wealthy evangelicals. Jerry Falwell, who established the Moral Majority in 1979, a political organisation \u2018associated with the Christian right and Republican Party<\/a>\u20196<\/sup>, was one of the first invited to Reagan\u2019s White house. He promoted the idea of strong nuclear \u2018families, guided by (their) faith in God<\/a>\u20197<\/sup>. He argued against this new age of gender-based politics, as feminist movements were making headway with the ruling of Roe v. Wade in 1972.<\/p>\n

Now, over forty years later the reign of Trump and the evangelical agenda, have further suppressed the gender movement. Trump’s selection of Amy Coney Barrett for Supreme Court Justice resulted in the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Trump also spoke directly to both the right- and left-wing faction of this culture war in his 2025 inauguration speech, clearly dismissing the existence of trans and non-binary people stating \u201cthere are only two genders: male and female\u201d<\/a> 8<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

In 2019, at the World Congress of Families (WCF) in Verona, we witness how global political actors collaborate with prominent Christian activists, when \u2018ultraconservative evangelical pastor Jim Garlow… shook hands with European political leaders including Italy\u2019s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini,\u2019<\/a>[5]<\/a>. The WCF, and other networks, work towards pro-life, anti-LGBTQ societies where the heteronormative family is protected from gender ideology [6]<\/a>. Graff and Korolczuk highlight the importance of organisations such as the WCF in creating Transatlantic cooperation between conservatives and political actors, which is essential in ensuring the anti-gender movement continues to grow.<\/p>\n

When we truly understand the power of the far right and the Church, it is difficult to see a future where liberals can put out the fires of this culture war. I fear for those who do not fit within this gender \u2018binary\u2019 the right has established, and I pose the question: has this regression gone too far? Can we move back onto the path of progress for women\u2019s and LGBTQ rights?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

References<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> https:\/\/directory.doabooks.org\/handle\/20.500.12854\/71835<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> https:\/\/directory.doabooks.org\/handle\/20.500.12854\/71835<\/a><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> https:\/\/blogs.lse.ac.uk\/gender\/2017\/12\/11\/gender-ideology-tracking-its-origins-and-meanings-in-current-gender-politics\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>https:\/\/directory.doabooks.org\/handle\/20.500.12854\/71835<\/a><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> https:\/\/directory.doabooks.org\/handle\/20.500.12854\/71835<\/a><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> https:\/\/directory.doabooks.org\/handle\/20.500.12854\/71835<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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