Roman Kuhar

Same-Sex Partnership Debate in Slovenia: Between Declarative Support and Lack of Political Will

‘Nothing much’, replied one Slovenian gay activist when asked by a Western journalist what had changed for the LGBT community in Slovenia after 1989. The fall of the Berlin wall and the political changes in the European socialist countries at that time may have been a crucial turning point for some of the Eastern European LGBT communities, and the first opportunity for the LGBT movement that would eventually emerge in some of the post-socialist states, but that was not the case in Slovenia. ‘Nothing much’ referred to the fact that, in 1991, when Slovenia gained its independence, the gay movement had been already active for seven years, and the most important political demands for equality had already been voiced and acted upon. The change in the political system did not alter the essence of these demands, but it did create a new, post-socialist context, and for a moment, raised high hopes that demands for equality would soon be met. Why this did not happen is the focus of this chapter, which provides an overview of the trajectory of the Slovenian gay and lesbian movement. It focuses on the three decades of struggles aimed at deconstructing the heteronormative foundations of partnership and family legislation in Slovenia, and shows that while Europeanization and international norms might have been important factors in these debates, the delays in and resistance to the adoption of marriage equality legislation are best explained by the internal relations between and within the parties that have made up the ruling coalitions in Slovenia over the past 20 years. Furthermore, the role of the conservative movements and political parties—often in close relationship with the Roman Catholic Church—cannot be ignored.

Populism in the Slovenian Context: Between Ethno-Nationalism and Re-Traditionalisation

The political shifts in the post-1989 period in Central and Eastern Europe and the military conflicts in the Balkans intensified (ethnic) nationalism in these societies, while at the same time giving rise to populist discourse of the extreme right and consequently to intolerance, hatred, othering and true national values that the communist regime allegedly suppressed. Slovenia as one of the former Yugoslav republics was no exception: the rise of the right in the Slovenian context meant the rise of a mixture of authoritarianism, traditionalism, religion and nativism. Populist re-traditionalisation of post-socialist Slovenia found the new enemies in various groups of ‘others’ who were imagined as endangering the future of the nation and its people. This chapter suggests that the process of establishing independent statehood brought about two types of populist discourse: ethno-nationalist and ethno-religious populism. The first is linked with attempts to differentiate Slovenian national identity from anything regarded as Balkan, which became a metaphor for backward and primitive, while the second came about with the onset of the re-traditionalisation of Slovenian society, with conservative and religious actors regaining power after years of repression under the previous political system. The chapter analyses these two contexts of populism by focusing on two case studies: the right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party and the Catholic Church-based Civil Initiative for the Family and the Rights of Children. The chapter also reflects on the consequences of populist exclusion, and specifically on the effects on the victims or target groups of such anti-politics—we reflect on anti-populism, anti-racism and anti-sexism initiatives that counteract populist exclusion and on open spaces for the practice of alternative politics.