The transnational diffusion of anti-trans discourse: a comparative analysis of Denmark and Italy

This paper examines the development and circulation of anti-trans discourse across distinct national contexts by comparing Denmark and Italy, which are two countries with diverging gender regimes where there has nonetheless been a clear rise in anti-trans mobilizations since the mid-2010s. To this purpose, the study draws on critical frame analysis of both movement-produced and institutional documents from the period 2013 to 2024. The results of this analysis show three overarching clusters of anti-trans discourse across both countries designated as, respectively, prevention, surveillance, and regulation; epistemic delegitimization; and cultural threat. These clusters indicate the presence of a shared transnational repertoire of anti-trans frames, which are locally translated and adapted into, for example, secular-liberal or moral-religious contexts. The article situates these findings within the growing research on the transnational diffusion of anti-gender policies and discourses, arguing that affective resonance provides a key factor in the successful adaptation of anti-trans frames into local contexts. Finally, we argue that it is particularly the differentiated convergence and thus the adaptability of anti-trans discourse which has made it so central to contemporary anti-gender movements.