“I Just Hope for a Miracle”: Concerns for the Right-Wing Italian Government from the LGBTQA+ Community

Introduction: Minority Stress Theory explains health disparities for LGBTQIA + individuals by describing the impact of socially driven stressors such as discrimination and internalized stigma. These stressors are intensified by conservative political discourse and policies. The present study explores LGBTQA+1 individuals’ perceptions and stress in response to the political shift ushered in under the ultra-conservative administration that took office in October 2022 in Italy. Methods: A total of 410 LGBTQA+ adults (Mage = 29.4, SD = 9.2) living in Italy completed an online survey between November and December 2022, recruited via snowball sampling. Responses to an open-ended question were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Three main themes were developed from participants’ responses: (1) Heightened Stigma and Structural Discrimination; (2) Stagnation and Rollback of Rights and (3) Ideological Oppression. Participants perceive the government as specifically targeting the LGBTQA+ community, alongside other marginalized groups within an intersectional perspective. Conclusion: The findings provide insights into the LGBTQA+ community’s concerns about political discourse on their rights and survival. They offer a twofold contribution: documenting the intensification of minority stress in both relational and individual terms, and highlighting LGBTQIA + individuals’ capacity for systemic and anticipatory analysis. Political shifts and traditionalist propaganda negatively impact marginalized communities, affecting their self-determination, well-being, and life trajectories, with intersectional consequences extending beyond LGBTQA+ people. Policy Implications: Policies should recognize marginalized communities not only as policy beneficiaries but as agents of collective empowerment, whose agenda-setting capacity is grounded in lived experience, critical consciousness, and grassroots organizing. Expanding access to decision-making and deliberative participation necessitates strengthening community-led initiatives, particularly in socio-political contexts with limited institutional collaboration.