‘Rainbow plague’ or ‘rainbow allies’? tęcza ‘rainbow’ as a floating signifier in the contestation of Poland’s national identity

Abstract

The anti-genderism register, which demonises the LGBTQ+ community as promoters of so-called ‘gender ideology’, has spread in recent decades across right wing populist discourses around the world. In Poland, it is an important resource in right wing constructions of national identity, which appeal to a historicised account of Poland as the guardian of European Christianity. However, there is also a counternarrative that envisions Poland as a progressive member of the European Union with secular politics and respect for diversity in all its forms. In this context, the Polish lexeme tęcza ‘rainbow’ is a floating signifier whose meanings are struggled over by opposing discourses of LGBTQ+ rights and their place in Polish public life. Drawing on an analysis of 521 texts from five media outlet types on the right and left wing sides of the political spectrum, this article examines the contestation of tęcza as a site where the very meaning of present-day Polishness is discursively negotiated.