Donor ‘Creep': LGBT Politics in Post-mobilization Subnational Contexts

• In Event: From Breakthrough to Backlash: Global LGBT Rights in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

In ‘post-mobilization contexts’ where same-sex marriage—the ‘pinnacle’ LGBT rights—has been achieved, how do LGBT organizations survive when the sociopolitical and economic space for their existence has changed? Drawing upon a thematic analysis of semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in 2017 and 2018 with LGBT advocacy organizations, service providers, and their funders in Alberta, Quebec, and Ontario (‘extreme’ cases for expected environmental shift), I argue that Canadian LGBT organizations are increasingly embedded within a strategic yet symbiotic resource mobilization vis-à-vis governmental and corporate funders. Firms, especially national banks, are vital to sustaining LGBT organizations in Canada; and LGBT organizations have become social and economic resources which Canadian funders compete for to mobilize. Where the LGBT movement has been all but extinguished, this paper argues that the movement predominantly persists on an ad hoc basis through LGBT service provider NGOs, which play multiple organizational roles including advocacy when necessary. Resource mobilization, the social/organizational imperative to continue to meet 'unmet needs', and long-term NGO survival open the door to funder (especially corporate) influence on LGBT politics at local levels. This paper discusses more broadly how analyzing the LGBT organizational case adds to our broader understanding of civil society in post-mobilization contexts, and of the unintended consequences of progressive social policy change.

Author

• Jessica Ng, London School of Economics and Political Science