ANTEMURALE HETEROSEXIS: SECURITIZATION IN CROATIA VIA CONTEMPORARY ONLINE HOMOPHOBIA IN THE CASE OF THE PORTAL ‘NAROD’

Abstract

Even though homophobia in Croatia can be followed since the years of the Independent State of Croatia as a Nazi puppet state during World War II, it has become significantly more pronounced since the wars of the Yugoslav secession in the nineties. Strengthened by a nationalist Weltanschauung that does not see homosexuals as part of the nation, it became even further reinforced by the Catholic Church in Croatia. Much of the contemporary homophobic discourse can be found on the portal Narod, where alleged attacks on Croatia, the Croat nation, and in particular, the Catholic Church, are regularly promoted within its textual production. The rhetoric is one of securitization, wherein homosexuality is presented as a threat to Croatia and the Catholic Church. Seen through the methodological prism of content analysis, through the lens of securitization theory, this article explores the homophobic rhetoric of the Narod portal, so far ignored in scholarship.