‘Straighten Up and Fly Right’: Radical right attempts to appeal to the British LGBTQ+ community
| Author | Russell David Foster,Xander Kirke |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/13691481211069346 |
| Published date | 01 May 2023 |
| Date | 01 May 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481211069346
The British Journal of Politics and
International Relations
2023, Vol. 25(2) 277 –294
© The Author(s) 2022
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DOI: 10.1177/13691481211069346
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‘Straighten Up and Fly Right’:
Radical right attempts to
appeal to the British LGBTQ+
community
Russell David Foster1 and Xander Kirke2
Abstract
This article explores an emerging strategy by sections of the British radical right towards the
LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community, who the radical right claim
are existentially threatened by the alleged violent homophobia of Islam and their ostensible
betrayal by ‘the left’. Consequently, parts of the radical right present themselves as the ‘true’
protectors of LGBTQ+ individuals through what we term alter-progressivism. By analysing
recorded speeches, discussions and interviews by and with key British radical right figures,
we demonstrate three themes: (1) the broad radical right discourse of a ‘Great Replacement’
specifically tailored towards LGBTQ+ anxieties, (2) a narrative in which the radical right
portray themselves as the defenders of (some) minorities and (3) an emerging distinction
between the far-right and radical right concerning LGBTQ+ rights. We conclude that these
themes represent a significant rhetorical shift and reveal the flexibility of radical right narratives
in an attempt to appeal to diverse communities. This represents a serious challenge, which
compels social scientists to adapt their understandings of radical right ideologies, objectives
and strategies.
Keywords
alter-progressivism, British politics, Islamophobia, LGBT, populism, radical right, social media
Introduction
In recent years, Western nations have seen a right-wing upsurge (Kassimeris and Jackson,
2015). This ‘right-turn’ is a heterogeneous phenomenon variously motivated by economic
hardship, fears of civilisational decline (Eatwell and Goodwin, 2018) and anxieties about
the conditions of modernity. Consequently, strands of contemporary rightist populism
1Department of European and International Studies, King’s College London, London, UK
2Glasgow School for Business and Society, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK
Corresponding author:
Russell David Foster, King’s College London, London WC2B 6LE, UK.
Email: russell.1.foster@kcl.ac.uk
1069346BPI0010.1177/13691481211069346The British Journal of Politics and International RelationsFoster and Kirke
research-article2022
Original Article
278 The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 25(2)
demonstrate significant differences in approaches to social issues. One difference is the
changing nature, in some Western countries, of radical right discourses on LGBTQ+
(lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) communities. While the far-right has tra-
ditionally been (and remains) very hostile to LGBTQ+ people, in recent years some radi-
cal right groups have sought to portray themselves as protectors of some sections of the
lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB; but not commonly T or Q) community.
In this article, we examine the discourse of radical right groups concerning Islam and
LGBTQ+ issues in the United Kingdom (although, as our empirical analysis demon-
strates, these narratives transcend national borders). Substantial research has been con-
ducted on the relationship between the far-right/radical right and the LGBTQ+ community
from diverse theoretical and methodological approaches and in various national and inter-
national contexts (for recent examples, see Ayoub, 2019; Ayoub and Paternotte, 2014;
Bosia et al., 2020; Christou, 2019; Dell’Omo and McEwen, 2021; Dietze and Roth, 2020;
Downes, 2021; Gray, 2018; Kuhar and Paternotte, 2017; McEwen, 2020; Paternotte,
2018; Slootmaeckers et al., 2016; Wielowiejski, 2020). This growing corpus of literature
illuminates two salient points: first, the changing nature and increased visibility of the
radical right; second, it urges consideration of how transnational forces interact with local
discourses to create unique national contexts (Kamenou, 2021). Although radical right
electoral successes have been limited, their influence on politics through ‘mainstreaming’
(Miller-Idriss, 2017) of formerly fringe ideas is significantly greater in the age of social
media. While these groups are frequently combined in a category of ‘right-wing popu-
list’, two areas of distinction must be considered. First is that beyond superficial similari-
ties such as claims to represent ‘the people’, and the ‘Othering’ of internal and external
enemies (Mudde and Kaltwasser, 2017), there are substantial differences between ‘popu-
list’ movements. Second, many of these radical right groups continue to reproduce twen-
tieth-century far-right discourses while promoting a degree of social liberalism opposed
by the far-right: a phenomenon we term alter-progressivism.
We define alter-progressivism as the expression of some socially agreed ‘progressive’
views that ostensibly claim to defend vulnerable minorities from external threats. We use
the case of British radical right relations with LGBTQ+ issues to illustrate three points.
First is the fluidity of radical right politics and the emergence of a radical right which
reproduces some far-right discourses. However, it is simultaneously distinct from, and
frequently actively opposed to, the traditional social roles advocated by the far-right.
Third, we argue that some elements of the British radical right deploy alter-progressive
narratives designed to encourage cisgender LGB people, but rarely trans people, into not
only tacitly supporting the radical right but actively identifying with it. This is done by
instrumentalising perceived tensions between Islam and LGBTQ+ people, with the for-
mer narrated as an existential threat to the latter. The result is radical right movements
explicitly endorsing (some) gay rights. In doing so, they challenge assumptions that
LGBTQ+ people inevitably lean left. We analyse videos by key figures from political
rallies, speeches and vlogs of prominent activists. We identify key discursive themes,
highlighting how such narratives are constructed to attract primarily young, cisgender,
gay/bisexual people to political extremism. We conclude that such appeals represent a
powerful strategy that needs to be taken much more seriously by academics and policy
makers.
However, we would like to make two clarifications. First, we acknowledge that there
is very substantial homophobia, biphobia and transphobia among the radical right (Davey
and Ebner, 2019). Second, despite this homophobia, some radical right movements
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