What is often strategically framed as a »values debate« is, in practice, a coordinated transnational effort to use gender as a lever for civic repression, institutional capture, and the repression of women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights. Situated within contemporary democratic decline, backlash against gender justice is not peripheral to democratic erosion, it is one of its key drivers. Drawing on a UNRISD–FES expert group meeting and recent research, this paper shows how anti-gender actors have shifted from reactive mobilization to proactive agenda-setting, becoming deeply embedded in political parties, state institutions, religious networks, digital ecosystems, and multilateral arenas. It traces how gender functions both symbolically – to mobilize moral panic, nationalism, and resentment – and materially, through legal, policy, and institutional rollbacks that weaken democratic safeguards.