Resumen de Controversias políticas sobre derechos sexuales y de género en los principales medios informativos en línea de ucrania el caso de la reforma antidiscriminación en ucrania de 2013 - 2015
The study explores the role of online news media in sexual and gender rights change in Ukraine, relying on the analysis of the debate over the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) as part of the anti-discrimination reform in 2013 – 2015. Sexual and gender rights change was conceptualized as an outcome of hegemonic struggle among contesting discourses on sexual and gender rights based on the discourse theory of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. The research included three phases. In Phase I, conditions of possibility of sexual and gender rights change in Ukraine in 2013 – 2015 were examined using desk research. Dominant public opinion on sexuality, sexual and gender rights, and European integration, as well as the established legal, political, and media discourses on sexual and gender rights in Ukraine, were considered as conditions that shaped outcomes of the anti-discrimination controversy. In Phase II, political discourse on sexual and gender rights in Ukraine in 2013 – 2015 was analyzed with the use of post-foundational discourse analysis, relying on the data collected from the official websites of government, parliament, and groups of interest involved in the controversy over the anti-discrimination reform. Four discourse coalitions on sexual and gender rights were identified according to the articulations of the key floating signifiers in the debate: sexual orientation and gender identity, democracy, national identity, and foreign policy. Each coalition developed its own set of storylines that linked the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of SOGI to the coalitions’ articulations of the floating signifiers (nodal points). In Phase III, media representation of the contesting discourse coalitions on sexual and gender rights was examined with the use of quantitative content analysis and post-foundational discourse analysis of the anti-discrimination reform coverage in the five most popular Ukrainian online news media. This analysis revealed that during the first round of the anti-discrimination controversy (2013 – 2014), news websites affiliated with big media holdings owned by oligarchs favored conservative discourse coalitions by quoting their members more frequently, providing imbalanced coverage of their position, and echoing conservative assumptions about SOGI in journalistic comments. Small independent online news media favored liberal discourse coalitions using the same means. During the second round of the controversy (2015), all examined online news media favored liberal discourse coalitions in their coverage of the debate. The study suggests that support provided by the online news media contributed to the capacity of contesting discourse coalitions to change sexual and gender rights law. In 2013 – 2014, favorable coverage in the media affiliated with big media holdings and substantial presence in the independent online news media helped the conservative pro-EU coalition to articulate the prohibition of sexual orientation discrimination as a threat to democracy and national identity and an obstacle to the European integration of Ukraine in the public sphere, which contributed to the failure of the anti-discrimination reform. In 2015, favorable coverage in the top five Ukrainian online news media helped liberal discourse coalitions on sexual and gender rights to rearticulate the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of SOGI as an instance of democratic protection of equal civil rights, adherence to European values, and a precondition of European integration, which contributed to the adoption of the anti-discrimination reform.
