How a Eurovisn star's song about g out beme a gay anthem

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

'It's like a big, gay, not-sportg event... wh song and dance,' that's how one LGBT+ fan scribed Eurovisn - but why this cult followg? | ITV Natnal News * homosexuality in eurovision *

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. 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.

EUROVISN'S SERGEY LAZAREV: GAY LIFE EXISTS RSIA

* homosexuality in eurovision *

LGBTQ+ fans have affectnately likened Eurovisn to other major events, wh scriptns such as “Gay Christmas”, “the Gay World Cup” and “the Gay Olympics”. Many have related LGBTQ+ (particularly gay male) admiratn for Eurovisn s “mp” nature and reliance on excs.

In San Sontag’s semal piece Not on Camp, she scrib mp as more than jt the effemacy of gay men – is a sensibily that reprents the “love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeratn”. The Eurovisn mtee have planned a number of events, such as Queerovisn, an onle event showsg the bt of Liverpool’s Queer ge, as well as a number of gay club events and after parti. Subwoolfer performs Tuday on behalf of Bertorello / AFP - Getty ImagHostg the extravaganza will also be two beloved out gay stars: sger Mika, who’ll be live om Tur as an onse host for the global dience, and Olympian turned NBC mentator Johnny Weir, who’ll emcee the exclive Amerin feed of the broadst on Peack.

Mar Bertorello / AFP - Getty ImagSystur’s folk ballad Eurovisn entry, “Með hækkandi sól” (“Wh the Risg Sun”), is an o to the promise of the sun’s warmth and light overg the ld darkns of lyrics of Atralian nttant Sheldon Riley’s song, “Not the Same, ” also celebrate light shg through a broken darkns — and have ronated so strongly wh some LGBTQ fans that the song is beg hailed as a gay anthem.

HOW EUROVISN BEME A GAY-IENDLY NTT

The LGBT muny’s passn for the Eurovisn Song Contt hardly began wh Concha Wurst’s triumph last year. The ternatnal TV and rad ntt has long been embraced by gay, lbian and transgenr… * homosexuality in eurovision *

“So the ia of beg gay and beg all of those thgs that Eurovisn is so proud of beg wasn’t acceptable for me, was jt this thg that was nstantly prayed over. ‘We pray that Sheldon will be a real man; we pray that Sheldon won’t be gay, will be straight, will have a wife, will have kids.

Eurovisn should not be dubbed as a gay event and ’s not related to Pri events around the world whatsoever. Dpe the song not beg exclively about gay marriage, Krista wanted to enurage her untry to legalise gay marriage at the time and spe heavy cricism, maly om the Turkish broadster, Krista and one of her backg sgers gave the first lbian kiss on a Eurovisn stage. You might have missed if you blked but this actually marked the first gay male kiss the history of the Contt.