@article{8fb0ebad-a14f-4d0e-9bd4-16f3df595419,
  abstract     = {{Following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine has adopted innovative communication strategies to build and sustain Western support. Among these is the prominent visibility of LGBT+ soldiers in Ukrainian strategic communication, which links military heroism, LGBT+ rights and national survival. This article explores how the digital self-narration of Ukrainian LGBT+ service members and spokespersons projects a strategic narrative of “queer defenders.” We argue that this narrative is ontologically productive in that it reimagines Ukraine as a defender of liberal values and frames the war as an ideological struggle between liberal democracy and authoritarian aggression. The article shows that while the articulation of progressive values within geopolitical narratives enables affective resonance and broad appeal among certain Western audiences, its effectiveness depends on careful moderation and navigation of polarized debates around so-called “gender ideology.” These dynamics activate fantasy but also render the narrative vulnerable to contestation in transnational information environments. The findings contribute to scholarship on strategic narratives by highlighting the gendered geopolitical stakes of narrating war and the risks associated with thin domestic anchoring when national self-determination and social justice claims are projected to international audiences}},
  author       = {{Santos Okholm, Christiern and Hedling, Elsa and Edenborg, Emil}},
  issn         = {{2634-3797}},
  keywords     = {{strategic narratives; Ukraine; gender; geopolitics}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{07}},
  number       = {{3}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{Global Studies Quarterly}},
  title        = {{Narrating Ukraine through Queer Defenders : Fantasy and Gendered Geopolitics}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksag091}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/isagsq/ksag091}},
  volume       = {{6}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}