LOUD & PROUD: The Gayns, Or Otherwise, Of The Eurovisn Song Contt, And Why It Matters | HuffPost UK Entertament

Contents:

• HOW EUROVISN BEME A GAY-IENDLY NTT
• IS EUROVISN A GAY EVENT? LGBT PERFORMANC THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF THE NTT
• LOUD & PROUD: THE GAYNS, OR OTHERWISE, OF THE EUROVISN SONG CONTT, AND WHY IT MATTERS
• ‘HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT EUROVISN IS VERY POPULAR WH GAY PEOPLE?’
• TURNS OUT, BARBIELAND ISN'T AS GAY AS S QUEER FANS HAD HOPED

HOW EUROVISN BEME A GAY-IENDLY NTT

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. “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.

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

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. In the 1997 Israeli film Ba’al Ba’al Lev (Gotta Have Heart), a gay teenager obssed wh the Eurovisn Song Contt (ESC) exprsed py for his LGBTQ brethren the Uned Stat.

LOUD & PROUD: THE GAYNS, OR OTHERWISE, OF THE EUROVISN SONG CONTT, AND WHY IT MATTERS

As Eurovisn veterans perform at gay pri ftivals om Madrid to Stockholm this summer, we reunt five memorable LGBTQ moments at Eurovisn. The ntt, held Birmgham, England, would feature a public televote for the very first time, and supporters began to see her potential succs as a statement on gay power.

Krista, a straight ally wh a male fiancé, emed the move a public prott over Fland’s failure to extend equal rights — cludg same-sex marriage — to gay people. Haters scribed the character — portrayed by gay male sger Tom Nwirth — as “foolish” and “disgtg”, and some members of Atria LGBTQ muny said she was stg them all as eaks.

In 2011 LGBTQ rights group Zagreb Pri nomated him for “Homophobe of the De, ” owg to ntroversial statements he had reportedly ma 2005, tellg Tena magaze that gay men and lbians “nnot be equal wh other cizens bee means a return to Sodom and Gomorrah. But Houk ma the bold cisn to pete at Eurovisn 2017 Kiev anyway, and a year where anizers had chosen the theme “Celebrate Diversy” — wh s obv nod to gay rights. He lnched a digal mpaign celebratg iendship and gave terviews to media outlets wh large gay followgs.

‘HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT EUROVISN IS VERY POPULAR WH GAY PEOPLE?’

The ternatnal TV and rad ntt has long been embraced by gay, lbian and transgenr people tuned to s msage of uny.

TURNS OUT, BARBIELAND ISN'T AS GAY AS S QUEER FANS HAD HOPED

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. 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.