Augusta DellÕOmo: Welcome to Right Rising, a podcast from the Center for Analysis of the Radical Right. I'm your host Augusta DellÕOmo. Today, I'm joined by Dr. Haley McEwen, a researcher at the Wits Center for Diversity Studies at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and she's here with us today to talk about the anti-gender movement and its global ambitions. Haley, thanks for being here. 

Haley McEwen: Hi, Augusta. Thanks for having me. 

AD: So Haley, let's start off with the big question, which is what exactly is the anti-gender movement?

HM: The anti-gender movement is a transnational coalition of conservative activists and civil society organizations who are working to counter political and social gains that have been made by local and international feminists and LGBTQI plus movements, you know, over the past 50 or so years. Um, so, so yeah, that's, that's really what the anti-gender movement is, um, and I'm sure we'll talk more about what it is doing. 

AD: Perfect. And what exactly, where does this movement coming from and how has it formed? So you're describing this sort of transnational coalition, but, but where, what is its origin story?

HM: So while, uh, something that I think is important to, to note upfront, um, in this, in this conversation about the anti-gender movement, is that, you know, while I'm calling it the anti-gender movement, um, you know, in this conversation and. And, and people who are critical of, of what this movement is doing, you know, we will refer to it as anti-gender, but the movement and the people involved in, in these efforts to roll back, uh, LGBTIQ rights, women's rights, reproductive rights, uh, they refer to themselves as pro-family. Okay. So they refer to themselves in this positive terminology and, and I'm sure a lot of people would already be making connections between, you know, pro-family and pro-life for example, that rhetorical tactic, um, to present themselves as protecting something that is, you know, common sense, right? Like life or family and it casts anyone who's critical of them, you know, then as anti-family or anti-life. 

Um, and, and I mean that, the terminology really helps us also see where the movement comes from. Like you've asked, um, so this movement, while it is, you know, it's really grown into a global countermovement. Oh since, you know, really the early 2000s its history and where it comes from is the, the so-called family values movement that emerged in the United States, uh, North America more broadly, um, in the 1970s, you know, in response to the sexual revolution.
So that's really where it is, where it has come from. 

AD: And I think that distinction is really important between how they're presenting themselves as pro-family, but how we as scholars would describe them as anti-gender. I think that that rhetorical distinction is really important. For our listeners, can you give us just a sort of brief overview of a few of the key issues that they're really focused on?

HM: Sure. Sure. So, um, this movement, you know, and its efforts to roll back the gains made by queer and feminist movements. It's, it's addressing a whole bouquet of issues. Okay. And it addresses different issues in different contexts. So, you know, one of the things we've seen them do in their own context in, in the United States, for example, is, is fight hard back against marriage equality and, and the right to access abortions, abortion laws, of course.
Um, so those are two issues right at the heart of, of what this movement is about. Um, and it also helps us to recognize, you know, that one of the things that I suppose has made it quite powerful is it's bringing together, you know, the, the people who have seen themselves and been part of pro-life advocacy, for, for a number of decades with people who are anti-gay, you know, and historically we haven't, you know, you can't conflate these, these kinds of opposition groups, you know, and, and you have, you know, a lot of people, for example, who are pro-life, but they are not anti-gay. Um, and anyway, this movement has, has created an umbrella that brings together these groups, right? And, and, and so broadens their network and impact and power. 

Um, so, but you know, more recently, and as well as with the rise of, you know, the transgender rights movement and increasing challenges to the gender binary, the idea of the gender binary by activists and scholars and civil society organizations, um, even, you know, within UN agencies, they have increasingly, you know, addressed and, and taken on issues of transgender rights.
And, and currently right now we're seeing a lot of extremely, um, damaging, um, and oppressive legislation, um, emerging in the United Kingdom. Um, and I know in the, in the US context, specifically regarding transgender rights and issues. Uh, they are increasingly organizing and working to attack, um, transgender rights in the context of schools. So the rights of young people to identify with the gender they identify with, um, And, you know, they're really going after that. They're they actually have a strategic litigation organization that they have developed and the campaign, um, and a, and a manual that they have developed to assist people in, in basically taking on, uh, and, and opposing, um, efforts to expand the rights of transgender, young people in schools.

Um, and then in, in the context that I'm in, in, in Southern Africa, uh, they've been working to, to really, um, challenge, comprehensive sexuality education. Um, this is a big issue that they've been mobilizing around and there's one organization in particular called Family Watch International it's based in Arizona, actually that launched a campaign called Stop-CSE, 
um, across Southern and Eastern Africa. And, and really what they've been doing is going after a commitment that was made by, um, government representatives from Eastern and Southern African countries, um, in 2013 to implement comprehensive sexuality education in schools, and to make sexual and reproductive health services available to young people. Um, so there was this commitment that was signed in 2013, it was called it is called the ESA commitment and it is currently under review. It was up for renewal in 2020. And, um, and clearly Family Watch International became aware of this um, pending renewal, um, because about a year ago and well, the end of 2019, they really, really started mobilizing and campaigning quite actively in countries across the region, um, to create suspicion cause alarm and panic about the content of CSE, uh, the content of, of what, you know, their children are learning in school and. Um, and it, they were actually quite effective in creating popular, you know, panic. Um, but it was not overly successful when it came to, you know, policy and actually overturning or withdrawing sexuality education from the school curriculum. 

AD: No, that's absolutely fascinating Haley. And it's interesting to put them as someone who, who grew up in sort of the American education system and I sort of was leaving public education, right as these big pushes from the rightwing to really target particularly trans students trans athletes in the United States are really become major issues in the US so it's really interesting to put these in a global context. So I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about how much you see these as related and correlated? So why are these cropping up in this particular moment? How much are they coordinating with one another? How much are they taking strategies and learning and collaborating? Should we see these as an interconnected movement or still really operating in maybe as we would say hyper-local contexts?

HM: So what I think I need to do actually is go back and maybe this is something to insert earlier, in the discussion or it's fine if we talk about it now, but I think it helps to understand how these movements or how these different manifestations of anti-gender activism, how they are connected. Right? And, and they're connected in very material ways. Um, and what I mean by that is that many of the organizations who are driving these agendas, these anti rights, anti-progressive agendas, they are affiliated with, or they are based in the United States and it is US Christian right organizations who have been driving this stuff. And, and the way that they've done it, you know, is an interesting combination of the local and the global, um, in that, in some instances they have set up affiliate offices in other parts of the world. I'll give you an example in a second of that. Um, and then there's other cases where they will support and mentor, you know, politicians and religious leaders who they select and identify. They will invite these people to come and be mentored in the United States, um, where they, so that they are then able to go back to their own countries and, and establish organizations, establish conservative, civil society, organizations start campaigns, movements, um, et cetera, and also, um, mentoring them to become, you know, pro-family delegates at the UN.

So an example, right, of, um, of one of these organizations is an organization called the American Center for Law and Justice. Um, I'm not sure if you've heard of it. I'm sure some listeners will have, will be familiar with it. Um, it was established by Pat Robertson in the early 1990s and more, most currently it's been led by, uh, former president Trump's lawyer, Jay Sekulow. So the, the American Center for Law and Justice established a number of offices around the world. So one of them is the European Center for Law and Justice. Okay. Another one is the Slavic Center for Law and Justice. Uh, it's the, I think the European center is in France. If I'm not mistaken. And the Slavic Center for Law and Justice is in Russia. And then there's an African Center for Law and Justice in Zimbabwe and an Eastern African Center for Law and Justice in Kenya. And there was recently a report that came out that was a research conducted by Open Democracy and Mother Jones, showing how the American center for law and justice had been sending money to the Slavic center for Law and Justice to support anti-rights movements, um, pro-Putin kind of propaganda stuff. Um, and, and how it's, it's been, it's been linked with, you know, infringes, uh, infringements on democracy and, in these different parts of the well in, in Russia, in particular, um, and not so much research has been done looking at what's happening in Southern and Eastern Africa, for example, um, which I'm curious about something I think is really important to say is that, you know, this movement.

The these, these organizations, right? These us Christian right organizations like between the, you know, from the time they were established, like in the 70s to up until the early 2000s. Okay. They were mainly only concerned with domestic American issues around, you know, gender, sexuality, family, um, et cetera. But it was, it, it was as a result of two UN gatherings in particular that this movement, you know, woke up, uh, as they say, and, and began to realize that they, they also needed to globalize their, their efforts. Um, and the two conferences were that it was a 1994, uh, Cairo Conference on Population and Development and the 1995, uh, Conference on Women in Beijing. And it was at these two conferences when, you know, issue like different understandings of, of the notion of gender were first put on the table when, um, you know, LGBTIQ issues were, were put on the agenda. Um, and, and they realized that, you know, the kind of global queer and feminist movements were outpacing them, um, within the UN spaces.
And you know that they needed to start organizing if they wanted to counter these efforts. So really it was in the early 2000s, late 90s, early 2000s when, when these organizations started making deliberate efforts to, to gain international networks alliances, um, and so on and so forth.

HM: No, that's, that's absolutely fascinating. Haley, what's, what's really interesting about the context of the American right is often, as you said, we really associate that with domestic programs, domestic attacks against abortion rights, domestic attacks against queer individuals. Right? And thinking about the global ambitions of the US right, is incredibly important, and I'd love for you to in our next, you know, a few minutes really drilled down on their activism in Africa, particularly because often when we talk about the right wing or we talk about the far right, particularly in the US and Europe, we're often mostly talking about white people, and that's not the case, particularly when you look at the pro-family movement in Africa is far more multi-racial than what often we think about as the right wing. So could you talk a little bit about what this movement has been doing to expand their agendas in Africa and how that's really sort of come into contact with conservative Africans? 

HM: Yeah. Thanks Augusta. I mean, it's such a good question and it's, I mean, it's something I've, you know, that's really been at the center of my work. Um, and if I can just position myself as well for the listeners, um, So I am based at, at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. I've lived in South African since 2005, but I grew up in the Detroit area. Um, I was born there in the early 80s. I grew up there. I went to Michigan State University where I got my undergraduate degree and, um, and then I moved to South Africa where I pursued post-graduate studies, stayed here ever since. I've been here since 2005. Um, and, and also, you know, one of the things that I, that made me want to conduct the research that I do is that, you know, I, I was always very like growing up in the States, like, you know, a young feminist and from a queer family as well, like, um, you know, being very aware of the US Christian right. Um, and, and feeling very frightened of them and, and their politics. Um, and, and then I came here and, and it was a few years later, it was about like 2009 or so I started hearing, you know, the same kind of stuff that, you know, I used to hear, you know, in the Midwest, like it's not Adam and Eve, it's Adam and Steve and homosexuality is going to destroy our civilization. Um, it's going to destroy African values and, um, and those sorts of things. And, you know, it just sent a chill down my spine because it was like exactly the same language of the US Christian rights. 

Um, and. Yeah. So, I mean, I think they've been very effective, um, in a number of African countries at, um, at making, connecting with conservative, African religious leaders, political leaders, traditional leaders, um, and, and, and really like, you know, exporting their, their, their politics, their language, you know, the Culture Wars. And this is something that there's a Zambian researcher named Kapya Kaoma. Um, but he's based at Political Research Associates in Boston. Um, he's written extensively about this. Um, and I would encourage anyone who's listening who wants to read more to check out his work. But what they, I mean, they, they've used a number of different strategies. US Christian, right organizations have used a number of strategies to make connections with a conservative, you know, civil society and political and religious interests in, in African countries. 

Um, one of them has been to, um, you know, invite, as I mentioned, invite, uh, individuals who they select, who they know they'll get a lot of mileage out of, in terms of like their political power, um, or their, their popular social power, cultural power. Um, inviting them to do the US where they've mentored them. Um, and then those people have returned and they've established organizations like Family Policy Institute in Cape Town. And then there's also, you know, ways in which through there they're gatherings, okay. They, they, before COVID of course. Um, and since the mid-90s they've been having, you know, uh, they, there there's an organization called the World Congress of Families that, um, was established in 1997, I believe, and has been hosting and convening these international gatherings of pro-family actors. Um, you know, in different countries around the world for years. And so that's one way that they've engaged African as well as other, you know, conservative, civil society actors. 

But there has been an emphasis on Africa, within, you know, the World Congress of Families. And there's a number of, um, individuals from African countries who are often featured quite prominently in the World Congress of Families gathering. So for example, uh, Theresa Okafor, um, who's a Nigeria um, activist. She started an organization there called the Foundation for African Cultural Heritage. Um, there's another person named Ann Kioko who is in Kenya and she actually heads up a Kenyan branch of CitizenGo, which is a conservative petition website. 

So there's those, those methods of doing this and, and, you know, I think, but first and foremost, or, or even more importantly than any of those, you know, more material kinds of strategies, advocacy strategies has been the ideological power of their arguments. So, so what they've done, you know, is, uh, you know, in, in the US, um, you know, many people will be familiar with their narratives. Like homosexuality is going to destroy our civilization, for example, it's going to destroy our cultural values, our families. So when that narrative arrives and they want to spread that idea in African contexts, what they're doing is they're adding on a decolonial dimension to this idea. So what they are saying is that homosexuality is a Western import. It's something that the West wants to impose. It's like a form of cultural imperialism, and not only homosexuality, but comprehensive sexuality education, the framework of reproductive health and rights. Um, and it, it, they, they have an umbrella term that they use, which is the ÒGlobal Sexual Rights Agenda.Ó So they say that all of these, these aspects of, you know, uh, of issues that have been associated with feminist and queer politics, um, that they actually are neocolonial okay? And, and this is one of the things that's very twisted and complicated about, you know, this movement, um, because when you actually look at their rhetoric, of why, for example, they feel that the gender binary is so important and why they think the family, the nuclear family is the fundamental basis of all civilizations, um, and you, you see how these organizations are funded. The funding streams that, that sustain these US Christian right organizations, you can begin to see, they are actually the ones that propagating and perpetuating colonial ideas, colonial ways of being and colonial geopolitical relations of power.

AD: Haley, I really love this point you brought up about the way that they're presenting themselves is, is saying, you know, this is a colonial thing coming from the West, and we're offering you a way to, to cast off this Western imperialism. In many cases, often I think the, the common assumption of the right wing is that it's very backwards, it's not capable of innovation, but they're very good at manipulating rhetoric, creating a discourse that is quite easy to spread, preying off of these different ideas that are circulating within our own culture and repurposing them that they're quite innovative in some ways. And I really liked the way that you talked about that, it just in the last few minutes, and with the time that we have left, I want to ask you what is ultimately at stake in all of this? What do American pro-family groups have to gain from spreading this agenda in places outside the US? 

HM: Yeah. You know, I think Augusta, I think that is like the key question in all of this. Um, and you know, and, and also it helps us to think about, you know, the world we live in and the ways in which, you know, even our, you know, the world, the ways in which our local politics are so infused with global dynamics of power, geopolitical contestations over power. So I think this question opens up, you know, I think there's a lot of possible answers to the question, right? I don't think there's just one answer. Um, but I think one, one, um, one of the issues as that is at stake, I think is, you know, the, kind of the obvious one, which is you know, patriarchal power, heteropatriarchal power, and authority. Um, and we can see that, of course in, you know, the very agendas that they are promoting. Now, we don't have to look very far to see that, that they're trying to protect heteropatriarchy, right? 

But if you come at this from an intersectional and decolonial. Um, if you come at this from a decolonial, intersectional angle, you can start to also see the ways in which white supremacy is at stake. The idea of, you know, the, the authority, the epistemic authority of the West, of the U S. Um, you know, you can start to, you can start to see these. And when you begin to realize the ways in which these structures of power, like white supremacy and heteropatriarchy and ethnonationalism, and, and capitalism and ableism that they need each other, right? We can start to see what they're trying to protect, you know, from us pesty, feminist and queer activists and scholars who are like a thorn in the side of their, their efforts to make, you know, ideas like the gender binary seem normative. And as something we should never question, you know, we can start to see that there's a lot, that's at stake, right? And when we start to look at, you know, and think, why are they doing this globally? Why are they, why do they, why do these white conservative ethnonationalists from the United States, why do they care what's happening with sexual politics and African countries? I mean, they think America's the best, you know, why didn't they care? Um, but it, it really does come down to, I think, um, the, the power of the United Nations and their efforts to, to gain more power and influence in the context of the United Nations, where they realized they're, um, you know, about 20 years ago they realized they're really on the back foot in that space. So I think that's, that's another one. Um, but yeah, I know we don't have a lot of time. We could chat more, but, um, I think those are two of the key interests that are, that are at stake. Yeah. 

AD: Fantastic. Well, Haley, thank you so much for being here and for our listeners, where can they find more of your work? Where can they read more that you have written, where can they connect with you?

HM: Great. So I would love to connect with anyone who's listening, who would like to engage further. Um, I do not have a huge social media presence, um, but, um, I'm happy to receive, 

AD: Not addicted to Twitter, like the rest of us 

HM: Oh the silent stalkers, I don't, I don't like have a lot of my own stuff on these. I use Twitter, oh my gosh, anytime there's a crisis that I'm on, but uh, people can email me my email address, which is on the CARR website. And I also do have, um, a short film that I made with the Norwegian International Academics and Students Association. It's called SAIH. And I also have a number of reports and academic journal articles that you would be able to find on Google scholar.

AD: Well, Haley, thank you again so much for, for being here. 

HM: Pleasure, Augusta, and thanks so much for having me and, um, yeah. Yeah. I wish we could have more time to talk. Um, but, but maybe we can continue the conversation on another day. 

AD: As two people that study US-South African relations, we could probably record a two-hour podcast, just a full marathon of us, really going into this, so I'm excited for our listeners to really get an introduction into, into these really important issues. So thank you again, this has been another episode of Right Rising, we'll see you all next time.