Christian Democracy and Lgbti Rights: Lithuania and Slovakia Compared

The Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) in Slovakia and the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (TS-LKD) in Lithuania resemble each other in many respects. They are socially conservative parties that espouse Christian values and have a voter base that frowns upon non-conforming sexual orientations and gender identities. Both parties have therefore taken the lead in defending so-called traditional family values. This has resulted in a retrenchment of LGBTI rights in both countries. Yet, the two parties employ different arguments when debating LGBTI rights: the rhetoric of the Slovak KDH is moralistic, deeply religious and oftentimes homophobic; the language of the Lithuanian TS-LKD is technical and non-discriminatory. I argue that the divergent rhetoric can be explained by the different positions that the two parties take on European integration. The Lithuanian Christian-Democrats are wholeheartedly committed to the EU and do not want to earn the opprobrium of Brussels by slandering LGBTI people and denying fundamental values like non-discrimination and human rights. The KDH, on the other hand, has a long history of practicing what Leconte calls “value-based Euroskepticism”: although the party supports EU membership in general, it is critical of many of the Union’s policies, especially when they concern matters of morality. Unlike the TS-LKD, the KDH does not fear any potential social sanctions from the EU and consequently does not moderate its language when debating LGBTI rights. I draw on elite interviews, parliamentary transcripts and over 1,000 news articles that I collected during five months of fieldwork in both countries.