A Semiotic Analysis of Anti-LGBTQ + Politically Motivated Hate Speech

Abstract

Hate speech is speech that targets vulnerable minority people and groups, intended to denigrate their identity. Although hate speech has persisted for generations, its use against LGBTQ+ citizens has increased significantly since the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Hate speech is distinct from other critical rhetoric as it is both socially and politically motivated speech meant to marginalize and/or promote discrimination against a targeted minority population. Symbolic language is often utilized to obscure the direct meaning behind specific derogatory terms or phrases. This political tactic allows for the obfuscation of the implied meaning to allow the speaker to appear as if they are speaking from the moral high ground rather than simply using slurs to disparage a group of citizens. This creates a preferred self-deception by the speaker that mythologizes the object of that speech. The use of such terms has spread across social media as a means for some to express their opposition to legal and societal acceptance of LGBTQ+ civil rights. To decode this symbolic speech, this research utilizes semiotic phenomenology to analyze and illustrate the obscured meaning signified in anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech.