UCL Political Science Events

Contesting Equality: LGBTIQ+ Rights, the State, and Democratic Decline

Episode Summary

Recorded in March 2026, this Policy and Practice Seminar examines the global pressures facing LGBTIQ+ rights amid rising authoritarianism, weakening democratic norms, and shifting state politics across both the Global North and South. It explores how backlash and state power are reshaping LGBTQ+ movements, while also highlighting the strategies of activism, solidarity, and resistance developed in response. The discussion brings together scholars and practitioners working across queer theory, international law, and human rights to analyse both political constraints and forms of activist resilience. Speakers include Rahul Rao, Jamie Hagen, Anushka Gunawardena, Dan Conway, with chair Phillip Ayoub.

Episode Notes

LGBTIQ+ rights face growing pressure worldwide. This seminar explores backlash, state power, and activist resistance across North and South. 

As democratic norms weaken and authoritarianism gains ground worldwide, LGBTIQ+ rights are increasingly under pressure. This event explores key trends in LGBTIQ+ politics across the Global North and South, examining how shifting political landscapes are reshaping the relationship between LGBTIQ+ movements and state actors. The discussion will also highlight the creativity and resilience of LGBTIQ+ activists, who continue to build powerful strategies of solidarity and resistance in challenging times. 

Meet the Speakers 

• Rahul Rao is a Reader in International Political Thought in the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews. Much of his work to date has explored the global politics of identity – gender, sexuality and, more recently, race and caste. He has published widely in leading journals and peer-reviewed presses, including recent works Out of Time: The Queer Politics of Postcoloniality (Oxford University Press, 2020). 
• Jamie Hagen is a Lecturer in Global Politics at the University of Manchester, working with the Critical Global Politics research cluster. She is also a founding co-convenor of the Queer Justice, Peace and Security Community of Practice. Her research, which has been published in several leading journals, is at the intersection of gender, security studies and queer theory and brings a feminist, anti-racist approach to these fields. Her most recent book is Queering Women, Peace and Security: Expanding Feminist Approaches to Gender in Peacebuilding (Oxford University Press, 2025).
• Anushka Gunawardena is a Senior Lawyer at the Human Dignity Trust and is working across the Asia and Pacific regions. She specialises in international human rights law and has over a decade of experience instituting strategic litigation, implementing multi-country regional programmes, working for global human rights organisations, and advising government bodies device national policies. 
• Dan Conway is a Reader in Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster, and a Research Associate at the Wits Centre for Diversity Studies, University of the Witwatersrand. . His work is situated at the intersection of Feminist International Relations, political sociology and queer theory, focusing on the politics of LGBTQ+ rights and activism. His latest book “The Queer Politics of Pride: Global LGBTQ+ Activism and Homocapitalism’” draws from extensive ethnographic fieldwork at Pride events in South Africa, South and East Asia, Cuba and New York. 
• Chair: Phillip Ayoub is Professor of International Relations in the UCL Department of Political Science, and a globally leading academic in the field of politics and gender. 

Recorded 12 March 2026