The 'gay world cup': why LGBTQ+ dienc love Eurovisn

Contents:

• HOW EUROVISN BEME A GAY-IENDLY NTT
• IS EUROVISN A GAY EVENT? LGBT PERFORMANC THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF THE NTT

HOW EUROVISN BEME A GAY-IENDLY NTT

No, this was 9 May 2014, one of Copenhagen's gay pubs.

It me ls than a year after Vladimir Put passed a law banng children Rsia om learng about homosexualy and the untry's entry was loudly booed by the arena crowd, while others waved the Pri flag for the mera.

IS EUROVISN A GAY EVENT? LGBT PERFORMANC THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF THE NTT

It's believed by many terpreters that the song was about a homosexual relatnship, wh ambiguo lyril them about partners facg judgement om those around them amid referenc to hell and irons. A 2019 article by Belgian broadster RTBF took a closer examatn of the text, even clarg a prott song favour of the gay movement, although is never explicly stated that the song is about two source, Getty Imag / KeystoneImage ptn, Jean-Cl Pasl, a French artist reprentg Luxembourg, won the 1961 Contt wh the song No l AmourexThere was a ltle ls subtlety 1986 when host natn Norway field Ketil Stokkan, performg Romeo, wh members of a drag troupe. By the time Pl Osr of Iceland turned up 1997 as Eurovisn's first openly gay entrant, fans like myself were startg to fd each other the early ter foms.

"I would read webs, take part foms, and gradually dawned on me that, actually, probably, most of the people I was teractg wh on there were gay - back then that was the ma LGBTQ+ inty that people had, " she explas. In the north-wt of England, I beme volved regular days (and nights) out where a majory-gay crowd of Eurovisn enthiasts would chat, drk and - ocsnally - see romance blossom.

"Eurovisn isn't an LGBTQ+ event but 's affectnately referred to as 'Gay Christmas', " explas the dited ntt fan. The ternatnal TV and rad ntt has long been embraced by gay, lbian and transgenr people tuned to s msage of uny. Slowly, but surely, the LGBT (lbian, gay, bi and transgenr) muny found a welg home Europe’s annual mil extravaganza.

“We want to produce great TV shows that appeal to the greatt number of people: No matter where they are om, no matter if they are men or women, young or old, Europe or out, whe or black, homosexual or straight, ” Bakker poted out that Eurovisn remas a global event, watched by more than 180 ln viewers worldwi, om Portugal to Azerbaijan, and even Atralia, which was ved to participate this year’s edn. Pl Barn, a gay Brish man his fifti, has been a fan for s. “Last year Concha Wurst was the perfect diva for gay people.

Profsor Brian Sgleton, who holds the Samuel Beckett Chair of Drama and Theatre at Try College Dubl, and who wrote an article on the soclogy of Eurovisn for the Society of Queer Studi Journal 2007, said gay men growg up the 60s and 70s gravated toward the event while watchg at home wh their a time when social nventn told men to show extreme emotnal rtrat, Eurovisn was a wele breath of h air, acrdg to Sgleton. The glamour, the spectacle, ’s all those thgs that gay men vt to get away om the norms of masculy, ” noted on the worldIn the 60s and 70s Eurovisn was also a rare wdow on the world for Europeans still largely isolated om one another.

Sgleton, who remas a big Eurovisn fan to this day, argu that the opportuny to see people on TV who were different helped gay men accept themselv as beg outsi the norm, and even to celebrate that difference – a procs many gay men go through. “The people who take part Eurovisn don’t see each other as gay or straight. It’s jt one big meltg pot of var different backgrounds, and beg gay or straight is jt part of the mix.