The everyday abnormal and the quest for normalcy:How Polish equality marches build protester resilience

Abstract

Illiberal regimes and societies test resilience and provoke resistance, especially from targeted minority groups. But this abstraction can obscure the complexity of specific eventsand participants’ emotional motivation. What are the emotional and cognitive responsesof protest participants within illiberal contexts? This article investigates this question byfocusing on LGBT-rights protest participants in contemporary Poland. Using testimonyfrom in-depth semi-structured interviews with participants from 2019 equality marches,we identify emotional and cognitive responses that centre around a quest for normalcy.Illiberal politics in Poland, especially when contrasted with perceptions about LGBT acceptancein neighbouring countries, have made everyday life ‘abnormal’, whereby LGBTindividuals fear increasing violence and feel unable to act normally. Protest participationopens a space where LGBT individuals and allies can feel normal. This experience ofnormalcy effectively claims recognition of one’s ‘normal’ humanity. In turn, this buildsresilience within participants to endure the deterring effects of everyday life and to continuetheir advocacy for LGBT rights