Religion, Homosexuality, and Contested Social Orders in the Netherlands, the Western Balkans, and Sweden

The emergence and circulation of polarized stances on religion and homosexuality in public discourse has recently become a subject of research in various disciplines, such as theology, sociology of religion, cultural anthropology, law and human rights studies, and gender and queer studies. This chapter focuses on the strategic and ideological assumptions, interests and effects of present-day constructions of sexual orientation, religion and nationalism in public arenas. It presents the critical analysis of the discursive formations of oppositional pairings of religion and homosexuality in contemporary public expressions in three different parts of Europe: the Netherlands, the Western Balkans, and Sweden. The chapter also focuses on the instances in which debates come to an eruption. It then provides a more general discussion of public discourse in the Netherlands and the Western Balkans to display the patterns. The chapter further deals with a more in-depth discussion of a particular debate in Sweden. Keywords: church; homosexuality; Netherlands; religion; Sweden; Western Balkans