Anti-gender politics emerged relatively late in the former Yugoslav republics. Once present, however, they quickly reshaped public discourse, altered political boundaries, and refocused attention on the question of democracy. In Croatia, for example, anti-gender mobilization has demonstrated an extraordinary continuity, organizational capacity, and political influence while encountering intense opposition that extends beyond feminist and LGBTQ+ communities, as Leda Sutlović shows in her contribution to the “Deep Democracy” series.
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Until recently the immense global growth of anti-gender discourses appeared to have had limited influence in the Balkans. With the exception of Slovenia and Croatia, where anti-gender movements developed strong visibility and political influence, most countries experienced only sporadic activity of the actors aligned with this agenda. These included, for instance, pro-life organizations, radical nationalist parties, and religious actors who mobilized episodically and often formed temporary alliances aiming to undermine inclusive policies.
Event-based anti-gender mobilizations
Their interventions most frequently targeted education reforms and public gatherings, particularly Pride marches. Anti-gender mobilizations became most visible during moments of heightened public attention. This was the case prior to 2022 Euro Pride in Belgrade and the first Sarajevo Pride in 2019, when religious leaders and far-right politicians strongly opposed the events. Through slanderous rhetoric and moral panic they framed LGBTQ visibility as a civilizational threat, contributing to hostile atmosphere often accompanied by protests, counter-events, and incidents.
While intense, these mobilizations were generally short-lived and lacked sustained organizational structures. An exception seems to be North Macedonia, where a more systematic and organized anti-gender movement has emerged over the past five years. During this period, it has actively targeted educational policies, blocked the adoption of gender equality legislation, and cultivated narratives portraying gender equality and queer activism as threats to the nation, women, and children (Cvetkovikj 2024).
Although the ratification of one of the most contested policy documents, the Istanbul Convention, provoked massive protests only in Croatia and passed with little or no controversy elsewhere in the region, anti-gender discourses have since become increasingly visible across former Yugoslav countries. Regardless of differences in organization, scale, and institutional access, references to ‘gender ideology’ and ‘traditional family values’ now circulate widely in public debate.
Comprehensive political project
Rather than a loose collection of moral objections, anti-gender movements constitute a comprehensive political project. They connect diverse actors on the political right and give new form to previously existing anti-abortion activism and conservative activism. Unlike earlier resistance to gender equality, these movements aim to mobilize a wider audience by redefining democracy in opposition to equality and presenting exclusion as pluralism.
Central to this project is opposition to what they label ‘gender ideology,’ understood as the ideological matrix of different reforms they try to oppose, related to intimate/sexual citizenship debates, including LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, and sex and gender education (Patternote and Kuhar 2018). Mobilizations remain context-specific and respond to distinct political openings, shaped by institutional distrust, democratic fatigue, and growing social inequalities. In the context of former Yugoslav countries, it is therefore not possible to speak of a single, unified anti-gender movement.
My text focuses on Croatia, which has demonstrated the greatest continuity, organizational capacity, and political influence of any country in the region with regard to anti-gender mobilization. Most importantly, resistance to this agenda has also grown well beyond feminist and LGBTQ communities, engaging a wide range of social and political actors and ordinary citizens. While research often focuses on feminist and LGBTQ+ responses, my text highlights the broader opposition among citizens and alternative political visions that have emerged in response to the anti-gender agenda.
Hijacking the language and tools of democracy
During Croatia’s thirteen-year accession process to the European Union, resistance to EU gender equality policies remained limited and fragmented. Early signs included incidents surrounding 2011 Split Pride and, most notably, opposition to the introduction of sex education in schools in 2006. This controversy marked the beginning of what would later develop into a coherent anti-gender movement.
It was only through campaigns against sex education and same-sex marriage in 2012 and 2013 that this resistance consolidated into a movement with broader appeal (Vučković Juroš and Gregorić 2025). The 2013 referendum succeeded not only to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, but it established gender issues as one of the key dividing lines between the political left and right in Croatia, transforming cultural questions into central political battlegrounds.
Led by organizations, such as U ime obitelji (In the Name of the Family), GROZD (The Voice of Parents for Children), and Vigilare, the movement adopted the language and tools of civil society. It framed its demands in terms of human rights, democracy, and pluralism, made strategic use of legal mechanisms, and deliberately distanced itself from the Catholic Church.
By presenting itself as a modern, civic, and secular actor, the movement secured legitimacy and access to public institutions and advisory bodies. Although their attempts to enter electoral politics were largely unsuccessful, participation in a short-lived governing coalition provided anti-gender actors with limited institutional influence. During the ultimately unsuccessful campaign against the ratification of the Istanbul Convention, they further strengthened ties with far-right parties, whose subsequent growth enabled them to exert greater political and cultural power.
Today, the anti-gender movement remains most visible through the annual March for Life, a protest mobilization originating from the United States. Framed as a secular event, it deliberately mimics leftist protest aesthetics through colorful banners, music, and a festive atmosphere. As of this year, the march takes place in 17 cities, across Croatia attracts thousands of participants, and calls for changes to abortion legislation. In doing so, it seeks to normalize a restrictive vision of citizenship while presenting itself as a grassroots expression of popular will.
When gender politics becomes a mass issue
While anti-gender mobilizations have gained visibility and institutional access, it also generated widespread resistance. Crucially, this resistance cannot be reduced to a defensive reaction by feminist or LGBTQ movements alone. At moments of intense political conflict, particularly during debates over the Istanbul Convention, support for gender equality emerged from a broad range of actors, including medical professionals, parents’ associations, progressive believers, artists, and public intellectuals.
Some of the largest protest in Croatia’s recent history illustrate this wide opposition. Although not always explicitly framed as protests against anti-gender agenda, they articulated rejection of anti-gender narratives and demanded broader forms of equality, justice, and democratic accountability. These include the Croatia Can Do Better! (2016) and Justice for Girls (2019) protests, and the annual Night march.
‘Croatia Can Do Better!’
The Croatia Can Do Better! protest, held in 2016 during a short-lived far-right government, was organized by an exceptionally wide coalition of more than 300 civil society actors, including feminist and LGBTQ groups. Around 50,000 citizens, both in the country and abroad, participated in the protest, with the largest gathering reaching 40,000 people in Zagreb’s main square.
At the heart of the matter was an educational reform intended to prepare children for the future. However, neoconservative figures opposed the reform, framing it as an expression of ‘gender ideology’ and advocating for a more traditional and conservative education system. This led to the abrupt suspension of the reform, sparking widespread outrage. Protest organizers rearticulated and reclaimed the dominant ‘pro-children’ narrative – summarized by the slogan ‘Children’s Future = Country’s Future’ – in a progressive, secular manner (Lavizzari & Siročić, 2022).
Gender politics thus became inseparable from struggles over public education, media freedom, minority rights, and democratic openness, transcending the original movements and triggering the formation of broad ‘left’ vs. ‘right’ political blocks. As the second-largest protest since Croatia’s independence, this protest demonstrated that the opposition to the anti-gender agenda could mobilize broad segments of society.
‘Justice for Girls’
In 2019, the Justice for Girls protests mobilized people in 15 cities, with the largest protest in Zagreb gathering 7000 people. Following a brutal rape case and a controversial court ruling, the new initiative #spasime (‘Save me’), created by prominent public figures and celebrities, and feminist organizations, connected gender-based violence to broader patterns of institutional failure and corruption. With the central message ‘non-punishment of a crime is a crime,’ the protests urgently called for the attention to institutional violence, and demanded accountability, increase of sanctions against perpetrators, protection for victims, and gender-sensitive justice.
Interestingly, soon after the protests against the Istanbul Convention ratification that mainstreamed the label of ‘gender ideology’ in public discourse, the organizers succeeded to mobilize people outside feminist circles, even in small towns, to demand protection from gender-based violence (with the accent on “gender”, rodno uvjetovano nasilje). This protest revealed widespread support among citizens for victims of gender-based violence and clearly displayed rejection of the anti-gender actors’ fearmongering about ‘gender ideology.’
Night March
Finally, the Night March, held annually on March 8 since 2016, has become the most sustained and most massive feminist protest in the region. Organized by the feminist collective fAktiv in coalition with leftist initiatives and civil society groups, it gathers around ten thousand participants each year. Beyond protesting women’s rights, the march articulates alternative visions of society by linking gender justice to different struggles, such as labor, migration, climate, global inequalities, antifascism, and anti-imperialism, while reclaiming public space through collective and celebratory action.
By linking these issues, the Night March asserts a vision of justice rooted in everyday life and expresses solidarity with similar struggles worldwide. First organized during the mandate of a short-lived far-right government, the Night March can be understood as a response to heightened political tensions and the rise of anti-gender mobilizations. It further reflects the organizers’ ability to articulate widespread dissatisfaction and channel collective anger into a form of protest that combines political critique with community-building and celebration on International Women’s Day. Over the years, the march has expanded to seven cities, confirming persistent public discontent and sustained resistance to anti-gender agenda.
Contested futures
The case of Croatia suggests that anti-gender politics gain traction not because they truly speak for ‘the people,’ but because they take advantage of institutional distrust and exhaustion, democratic fatigue, and social insecurity to advance their agenda. Yet the same conditions have also given rise to broad, imaginative, and intersectional forms of resistance. Contrary to the perception of a ‘silent conservative majority,’ which is an impression reinforced at moments such as annual Marches for Life, opposition to the anti-gender agenda is very much visible in mass protests, everyday counter-action, and symbolic interventions.
Aside from the aforementioned protests such as Croatia Can Do Better! (2016), Justice for Girls (2019), and the annual Night march, interventions have also included smaller, situational counterprotests against men’s public prayer gatherings, which is a newer form of anti-gender activism. These counteractions relied on humorous and performative disruptions in public spaces. In Rijeka, for example, activists dressed as a carnival group and used masquerade and festivity to contest the message and appropriation of public space by the men’s public prayer gathering during the carnival season.
A recent petition demanding the removal of the prayer groups from central city squares further underlines the opposition to the anti-gender agenda, collecting more than 60.000 signatures in just over a few days. Taken together, these various protest practices suggest that anti-gender dominance is neither inevitable nor uncontested. They point to the ongoing struggles over democracy, belonging, and the right to shape collective futures in which gender politics remain a central and contested terrain.