Populist Radical Right Women Leaders and the Framing of LGBTQI+ Issues: Le Pen, Meloni, and Weidel

The increasing prominence of women leaders of populist radical right (PRR) parties raises important questions about the relationship between gender, leadership, and ideological discourse. This article examines how three PRR women leaders—Marine Le Pen, Giorgia Meloni, and Alice Weidel—articulate LGBTQI+ issues in their public communication. Drawing on framing theory, the study analyses a selection of leaders’ speeches, complemented by media interviews given by the three leaders, to identify how LGBTQI+ themes are constructed and integrated into broader party-political narratives. Our findings show that LGBTQI+ issues vary in salience and framing across leaders. Le Pen largely avoids the issue, invoking LGBTQI+ rights only within a homonationalist narrative opposing Islamic communitarianism. Meloni adopts a more traditionally conservative frame, grounding her framing in the protection of children and of the “natural family,” while Weidel selectively combines homonationalist and anti-gender discourses. Despite these differences, all three oppose the expansion of LGBTQI+ rights against their own country’s status quo, selectively accepting sexual orientation while marginalising gender identity and transgender rights.