133 4 Ginneken), waiving LBGTQAI flags. This scene led to the canonical picture26 where we see Bouchallikh smiling, holding her hand to her heart in apparent thankfulness to the activists applauding her, surrounded by trans flags. The backlash against Bouchallikh may have mobilized an electorate that wished to make a statement against Islamophobia. Alternatively, there might be a subset of the electorate committed to supporting under-represented groups such as Muslim women wearing hijabs in their journey to gaining equal political representation. Bouchallikh’s supporters would also likely be well-aware of the diversity among Muslims (Baysu and Phalet, 2017; Baysu and Swyngedouw, 2020; Ellethy, 2016; Fleischmann and Phalet, 2012; Phalet et al., 2010; Verkuyten and Yildiz, 2009), thus allaying gatekeepers’ fears about the electorate stereotyping Muslim politicians as homophobic. Party gatekeepers are of course aware of the differences among Muslims and may prefer the relative safety of “symbolic inclusion” instead of exclusion for fear of backlash when selecting candidates for their party lists (Dancygier, 2017). Especially party gatekeepers on the left (Dancygier, 2013; Sobolewska, 2013) are keen to show that their parties are diverse, which helps them attract voters who value diversity and are put off by ethnically homogeneous party lists. Party gatekeepers on the left therefore tend to select candidates who are Muslim who signal their commitment to diversity, ensuring that they are liberal on issues such as homosexuality. This strategy of “symbolic inclusion” (Dancygier, 2017: 174–179) advances a form of diversity thought to be palatable to the non-Muslim electorate. Whereas Dancygier (2017) focuses on the motivations of party gatekeepers that matter most in electoral systems with proportional representation, Stephens-Dougan (2020) highlights the same electoral rationale from the perspective of minority politicians, which matter more in electoral systems with single-member districts. Voters supposedly expect black politicians to be “beholden” to black voters (StephensDougan, 2020: 23). Black politicians respond to such expectations by practicing “racial distancing” – “invoking negative stereotypes” about blacks to signal they will not “disrupt the racial status quo” (Stephens-Dougan, 2020: 3). US president Barack Obama frequently engaged in racial distancing. Although one might expect him to avoid the subject of race, his campaign ads were more likely to include racial references than those of McCain and Clinton combined. But Obama’s references to race were often distancing in nature (Stephens-Dougan, 2020: 78). There are many examples of Obama distancing himself from the stereotype of black Americans as lazy. During his time as president, he would often mention “cousin Pookie,” the fictional relative every black American citizen might have. Obama would exhort cousin Pookie to “get off the couch” and take responsibility for his life, work 26 By Robin Butter https://twitter.com/Kauthar_/status/1378682814594433026/photo/1 - accessed on November 16 2023
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