Nevertheless, the heated LBGTQ debate on the continent suggests that equal rights are not quite the done deal in the West that some gay activists once thought, particularly as the movement has broadened its focus to include gender identity — a hot-button topic that has riled the right on both sides of the Atlantic for years. The gradual extinction of political moderates in Europe and the United States hasn’t helped. In Europe, Politico recently noted, the center-right is buckling, “squeezed on the right, by more extreme populists and nationalists, and on the left by liberals and especially the Greens, propelled by concerns about climate change.”
