Do LGBTIQ+ issues matter for populist radical right? An analysis of Italian parties’ social media narratives

This study analyses how populist radical right parties (PRRPs) strategically engage with LGBTIQ+ issues on social networking sites (X/Twitter and Instagram). The aim of this paper is to scrutinise the radical-right populist narratives in Italy to assess to what extent issues related to LGBTIQ+ rights matter for this party family. We employ text methods to analyse social media data, providing a comprehensive view of PRRPs’ discourse. The research shows that rather than being constrained in a univocal dynamic, PRRPs strategically perform a trivotalisation of LGBTIQ+ issues in relation to policy debates, especially when it comes to “freedom of speech” and the defense of the so-called “traditional family”.