In this article I examine how contradictory and contending ideas about masculinity are voiced in the public domain in Fiji, and discuss efforts undertaken by local gay activists to resist hegemonic constructions of masculine identity (Connell 2005, 77–83), like that promoted by conservative members of the political elite in Fiji. I therefore describe how local and transnational influences have configured the spaces in which discourses of masculinity are articulated and contested. While ideals of Christian morality have been deployed to “delegitimize” homosexuality and subordinate homosexual men (Connell 2005, 78) by some church and political leaders in Fiji, the same actors have also sought to excuse violence perpetrated by indigenous males during the 2000 civilian-led coup in ways that suggest these acts were “authorized” (Connell 2005, 82–83) by a broader ethno-nationalist political agenda that aimed to secure Fijians’ political dominance.