Perverts or Heroes in the Post‐Socialist “Cold War”: Formula Stories of Lesbian/Bisexual/Queer Women and Transgender People in Ukrainian Media

Subjectivities such as (what would be termed in English) lesbians, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) women and transgender people are contested topics in Ukraine. Linking Laclau and Mouffe's discourse analysis with Loseke's narrative approach, we reviewed eight national, text‐based, journalistic media sources to read equivalence chains within the data as publicly available formula stories about LGBTQ+ people. Formula stories are not about actual people or typically told by LBQ women and transgender people themselves, but rather exist as publicly circulating stories for consumption by non‐LGBTQ+ people. Our findings shore up previous evidence that homophobia and transphobia (including criminalization and pathologization) are commonly articulated in media outlets in Ukraine. Importantly, media outlets owned by Russia and the United States and stories about events outside of Ukraine contribute most to the formula stories circulating in Ukraine, demonstrating the continuing position of Ukraine as a fulcrum of geopolitical contestations in the post‐socialist “cold war.” Analyzing sexual politics through formula stories illuminates ongoing transnational connections of imperialism and Europeanization to racialization, colonialism, and contestations of power. A video is available at https://youtu.be/v3dCj0yYm_g.