“Let Them Flee to Sweden: There, Everyone Looks at Them More Politely”: Gay Propaganda and LGBT Rights in the Baltic States

Abstract

This chapter outlines how the concept of “gay propaganda” can be understood in terms of the often-fierce debates over same-sex partnership legislation, same-sex families, hate crimes laws, and LGBT visibility in the three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. It looks to local media stories about LGBT issues—how they are covered, what sources they pull from, and the people they quote—to provide a nuanced view of how the populations of the three countries understand or react to the demand for LGBT rights, particularly in relation to their own senses of national identity, belonging, and tradition. It further considers LGBT NGOs and activist groups in the three nations and how they view and respond to the political and social homophobia with which they contend daily. Finally, the chapter examines the role that external political and religious actors—from the Russian Federation as well as countries of the European Union—play in influencing local discourses on gender and sexuality, primarily spread through social media propaganda campaigns and organized protests against LGBT rights.

“Пусть бегут в Швецию. Там все-все на них смотрят более вежливо.” This infamous phrase, as discussed later in the chapter, comes from a Deutsche Welle interview (in Russian) with Mart Helme, the leader of the far-right party EKRE (Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond/Conservative People’s Party of Estonia) (Eggert, 2020, October 15).