EU’s top court finds Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ+ law in breach of key values ECJ says law passed in 2021 is discriminatory and ‘contrary to the identity of the union’, in early test for new PM

Absolutely groundbreaking ruling that definitively shows that LGBTQI+ rights fall under the EU's fundamental values.

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...

Verdwijnt met Viktor Orbán ook de radicaal-rechtse opstand in de westerse politiek? ‘Het gratis geld uit Hongarije valt weg’ Bij de Hongaarse verkiezingen leed premier Viktor Orbán na zestien jaar aan de macht een verpletterende nederlaag. Dat is ook een pijnlijke klap voor zijn radicaal-rechtse bondgenoten wereldwijd. Orbá...

Voor radicaal-rechts was Orbán was de inspiratie, Boedapest het paradijs. Nu is er paniek binnen het ideologische ecosysteem dat hij bouwde in de hoofdstad. 'Deze verkiezingsuitslag raakt het kloppend hart van de beweging.’ Maar het gedachtegoed is niet zomaar weg. www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/v...

Hungary election live: Viktor Orbán concedes defeat in Hungarian election after 16 years in power Long-serving prime minister beaten by opposition after early results showed clear lead

Orban concedes defeat. The support of Trump, Vance, Putin, Lavrov, Weidel, Milei, Le Pen, Fico, Babis and many others could not overcome Hungarian anger at a stagnant, corrupt regime

www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...

25 jaar in 26 stellen Precies een kwarteeuw geleden werd het huwelijk opengesteld. Ter ere van dit zilveren feest vertellen getrouwde lhbti’ers over hun gedeelde liefde, leed en leven. Bekijk de foto’s en lees de verhalen....

😍

www.volkskrant.nl/kijkverder/v...

In zijn eerste twee dagen als premier ontving Jetten op X tweehonderd homofobe berichten Sociale media: NRC bekeek het X-account van premier Rob Jetten, @minpres. In de eerste dagen van zijn premierschap kreeg hij op de X-berichten die hij plaatste ruim tweehonderd homofobe reacties.

www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2026/...

De tabakslobby gebruikt radicaal-rechts om haar macht in Brussel te vergroten De Europese tabakswetgeving moet worden herzien om ook vapes en andere alternatieven te reguleren. De tabakslobby frustreert de hervormingen en vindt daarbij handlangers in de Brusselse fracties van r...

www.groene.nl/artikel/alle...

Call for Papers: Special Issue of Feminist Legal Studies Feminist Responses to the Regression of Trans Rights: Strategies, Alliances, Hope Amidst continuing backlash against trans rights, recognition and inclusion, two recent decisions from the UK have substantially impacted not only trans people’s legal status but also legal and social narratives of sex, gender and identity. The narrative that trans inclusion has a chilling effect on the rights of others, particularly women, has been adopted uncritically by both the UK Supreme Court in For Women Scotland and the Office for Students in its finding that the University of Sussex’s trans-inclusion policy had a chilling effect on free speech. These cases highlight a backlash that has been ongoing for some time, and sparks debates and fear of what may lie in the near future for trans people and kin, as well as other gender-variant persons, not only in the UK, but across jurisdictions and in a global perspective. The discourse of the ‘gender critical’ movement is splintering both the feminist and LGBT+ movements globally, with some aligning politically with the Far- and Christian Right against trans rights, adopting their terminology of ‘gender ideology’ and potentially posing a wider threat to sexual and reproductive rights. While this a difficult situation for trans people, kin and allies, this special issue seeks to emphasise that legal battles – including battles (temporarily) lost – are also an opportunity to seek to reinforce old alliances and to form new ones, to find new legal frontiers and imaginaries, to reinforce the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of legal arguments as well as intergenerational memory of what feminist legal work is, has been and should be about. How, we ask, do these decisions (and those like them globally) reflect and reproduce structures of coloniality, heteronormativity and cisnormativity? What do these decisions add to critiques of legal feminism? What would be construct…

📣🏳️‍⚧️ Call for Papers

We are inviting papers for our special issue, “Feminist Responses to the Regression of Trans Rights: Strategies, Alliances, Hope.” The issue will be dedicated to trans-inclusive feminist legal analysis that addresses attacks on trans rights & lives.

Details below. Please share.

Schotwonden bij Palestijnse kinderen wijzen op gericht vuur Artsen zagen in Gaza een verontrustend patroon: kinderen met een enkele schotwond in hoofd of borst, een teken dat er gericht op ze is geschoten. Dat blijkt uit onderzoek van de Volkskrant, die sprak ...

www.volkskrant.nl/kijkverder/v...

Please let me know your thoughts and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about the special section! I hope it makes for some stimulating summer reading. And thanks to all the contributors for making the special section come true!

A practitioner’s perspective on resisting anti-gender politics in international organizations: an interview with Naureen Shameem and Neil Datta Published in International Feminist Journal of Politics (Vol. 27, No. 3, 2025)

Last, Jelena and I had the pleasure of speaking to Naureen Shameem and Neil Datta about the important work they have done as practitioners in the fight against anti-gender politics within international organizations. You can read our conversation here:

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

From norm breaking to norm making: anti-feminist reactionary norm building in international politics International women’s rights are under attack from a broad coalition of governments and non-governmental organizations at the United Nations. Drawing support from religious conservatives and emerge...

The contribution by Rebecca Sanders and Laura Dudley Jenkins introduces the concept of "reactionary international norm building" to the study of anti-gender politics. They usefully present three Rs to describe this process: revisionist, retrotopian, and radical.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Anti-gender backlash politics as anti-Western politics: examining the UN’s “Being LGBT in Asia” project in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand The United Nations (UN) project “Being LGBT in Asia” advocates for laws and policies that are protective of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) people and attempts to generate lasting networks...

@georgeradics.bsky.social looks at backlash politics against the UNDP's "Being LGBT in Asia" project in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. It's a much-needed contribution on a neglected region in anti-gender politics.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Transnational Networks against Equality: The Anti-Gender Mobilization in the European Parliament Abstract. The present study contributes to the burgeoning literature on opposition to gender and sexual equality in the European Parliament (EP). It demons

On this topic, you may also be interested in reading this new network analysis by @giuliamariani.bsky.social:

10.1093/sp/jxaf015/8097952

Giuliana also contributed a review of a book by Agnieszka Graff and Elżbieta Korolczuk to our special section!

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Opportunity beckons: the anti-gender movement at the European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is commonly viewed as the most progressive institution of the European Union (EU), given its historic promotion of gender equality and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans...

Next, the amazing @lrubiogrundell.bsky.social and I look at the opportunities for anti-gender mobilization within the European Parliament. This venue, we argue, is increasing cause for concern.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

God’s lawyers? The Christian Right at the European Court of Human Rights Extant scholarship explores the activities and tactics of the transnational Christian Right at international organizations (IOs). However, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the Council of...

My article "God’s lawyers? The Christian Right at the European Court of Human Rights" looks at how ADF International and the ECLJ play a double game at the Strasbourg Court. They try to shape the Court's jurisprudence while also undermining its legitimacy.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Special Section introduction: threats and opportunities: the contestation of gender and sexuality in international organizations Published in International Feminist Journal of Politics (Vol. 27, No. 3, 2025)

The section starts off with an introduction by Jelena and I in which we conceptualize international organizations as not just threats to the work of anti-gender actors, but also as opportunities that these actors seek to take advantage of.

Access it here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

I am elated to share that the special section "Threats and Opportunities: The Contestation of Gender and Sexuality in International Organizations" that I co-edited with the wonderful Jelena Cupać of the @wzb.bsky.social is finally out in @ifjpglobal.bsky.social! www.tandfonline.com/toc/rfjp20/2...

Opportunity beckons: the anti-gender movement at the European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is commonly viewed as the most progressive institution of the European Union (EU), given its historic promotion of gender equality and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans...

✨📣 Very happy that our article with @martijnmos.bsky.social "Opportunity beckons: the anti-gender movement at the European Parliament" is out @ifjpglobal.bsky.social. You can find it open access here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/NNB93...

Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ+ rules breach EU law, top court adviser says Legal opinion bolsters EU’s challenge against Viktor Orbán’s conservative culture war.

www.politico.eu/article/hung...

📅 National strike on 10 June – universities take a stand ✊
🎓 Students & staff protest budget cuts to higher education.
📍Demo at Dam Square, Amsterdam
🏛️Leiden Uni supports the strike but stays open.
🤝Organised by FNV, AOB, LSVb & WOinActie.
🔗More info: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

It's on the reading pile for this summer!

Assistant Professor of Political Science Assistant Professor of Political ScienceThe Institute of Political Science at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Leiden University is currently looking for at least two (2) assistant professors in Poli...

Join us! Two vacancies for an AP of Political Science at Leiden!

www.universiteitleiden.nl/vacatures/20...

Nederlandse universiteiten hebben nog geen antwoord op de sloopkogel van Trump Door Trumps verwoestingsobsessie kunnen wetenschappers in Nederland niet meer samenwerken met Amerikaanse collega’s, zien ze cruciale data verdwijnen of stagneren hun onderzoeken. De wetenschappers mo...

Nederlandse universiteiten hebben nog geen antwoord op de sloopkogel van Trump www.groene.nl/artikel/leun...

Niod-onderzoeker: ‘Genocide is geen lichtknopje, maar een dimmer waarbij het geweld geleidelijk wordt opgevoerd’ Volgens genocideonderzoeker Uğur Ümit Üngör, verbonden aan de UvA en het Niod, is er op basis van wetenschappelijke inzichten geen ontkomen aan: ‘Israël heeft nu zoveel oorlogsmisdaden gepleegd in Gaz...

Lees dit artikel op de Volkskrant www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/n...

Women Historians Conference Canceled, Co-Presidents Ousted A message to prospective “Big Berks” attendees led to online blame on the planned host university and the political moment. But the cancellation is more complicated than that.

The 2026 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities has been canceled because no one US university dares to host the event in the current climate.

De godvruchtige stichting Civitas Christiana bekijkt de Lentekriebels door een wel erg perverse bril De godvruchtigen van de stichting Civitas Christiana verspreiden laster met hun Zwartboek Lentekriebels. Ze gaan zo tekeer tegen het lesmateriaal van Rutgers en kinderboeken over intimiteit dat je je ...

Beetje zoet. Aan de andere kant: de opdracht van de auteur voorin het boek stemt mild. ‘Voor Colin’, staat op de titelpagina. ‘We houden van je. Precies zoals je bent.’ - @marjapruis.bsky.social

www.groene.nl/artikel/wat-...

Three prominent Yale professors depart for Canadian university, citing Trump fears History department power couple Timothy Snyder and Marci Shore and philosophy professor Jason Stanley will begin teaching at the University of Toronto’s renowned Munk School in fall 2025.

yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/03...

Bedankt voor het uitstekende onderzoek en het bespreekbaar en zichtbaar maken van een ziekte als ME/CVS. Veel was helaas erg herkenbaar, met name de (zeer gevaarlijke) nadruk die op psychosomatiek en cognitieve gedragstherapie wordt gelegd.

Hoewel long covid en ME/CVS steeds meer erkend worden, krijgen patiënten vaak te horen dat het tussen de oren zit Tijdens de pandemie werd de groeiende groep patiënten met long covid grotendeels genegeerd. ME/CVS-patiënten ervaren dit al decennia. Langzaam leidt hun gezamenlijke strijd om erkenning tot resultaat....

Deze week staat er een stuk in @groene.nl waarvan ik hoop dat niet alleen mensen die het rechtstreeks aangaat, maar ook heel veel anderen gaan lezen. Het gaat over de strijd van patiënten met long covid én ME/CVS om erkenning en hulp. www.groene.nl/artikel/waar...

"in light of the recent events taking place in the U.S. under the new government, I no longer feel like I would be able to live, work and do research freely without fear."

From one of our PhD admits.