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

Contents:

• I'M A EUROVISN FAN, BUT AS A GAY MAN AND A PALTIAN I N'T SUPPORT THIS YEAR
• THE ‘GAY WORLD CUP’: WHY LGBTQ+ DIENC LOVE THE EUROVISN SONG CONTT
• HOW EUROVISN BEME A GAY IENDLY NTT
• HOW EUROVISN BEME A GAY-IENDLY NTT
• 8 REASONS WHY EUROVISN IS GAY HEAVEN
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• THE ‘GAY WORLD CUP’: WHY LGBTQ+ DIENC LOVE THE EUROVISN SONG CONTT
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

I'M A EUROVISN FAN, BUT AS A GAY MAN AND A PALTIAN I N'T SUPPORT THIS YEAR

Another key moment me 2014 when Concha (a gay drag queen) brought her genr non-nformg drag to the mass.

Cred: APHer 'Rise Like a Phoenix' performance was scribed the prs as "the most genrqueer yet" ntt kicked off the wake of Rsia troducg s "gay propaganda" or "anti-gay" law. The law claimed to protect children om homosexualy, and nmned reprentg LGBT+ liv as a norm society for urse none of the performers ped the evable bigotry aimed at LGBT+ people - there were lls for Eurovisns boytts om some, and offensive remarks ma by certa untry's broadsts of the the msage remaed clear, as Concha clared upon beg award the Eurovisn trophy: "We are uny and we are unstoppable" the LGBT+ fan base for Eurovisn 2023 has livered on that - a big way. Homovisn Liverpool's Chavasse park scrib self as "20 years of queer art" wh 60 queer artists takg over the event's producer Josiah told 's a celebratn of "beg proud, beg queer and seeg other queer people beg so openly queer on an ternatnal stage, 's really embolng", a performer and fan, scribed the ftival and Eurovisn as "a celebratn of our art, our culture, our muny.

Cred: @HomotopiaFtIt's also been an opportuny to promote lol, queer talent.

THE ‘GAY WORLD CUP’: WHY LGBTQ+ DIENC LOVE THE EUROVISN SONG CONTT

"In Liverpool and Eurovisn there's a big queer muny that love the petn and we have a massive gay scene. 'You want to know people have got your back'Wh LGBT+ fans om far and wi arrivg the cy, anisers have ma safe spac to nnect wh others and get away om the htle and btle of the ma Clark opened Pri Hoe Liverpool at the start of the month, a muny pop up that's open for the length of the Herrg, Chief Executive of Liverpool Cy Regn's Pri Foundatn, scribed the celebratns as "gay Christmas" and, as we all know, Christmas n be a strsful time.

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. 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”.

HOW EUROVISN BEME A GAY-IENDLY NTT

Camp n reprent the sense of subcultural muny through the “gayg” of straight culture. 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. But as the son of a Paltian refugee and as a gay man, I simply nnot brg myself to take part the revelri this year.

Wh my circl, the cricism me maly om fellow journalists or gay iends and acquatanc, sce prs eedom and LGBTI rights have both been unr attack Azerbaijan.

8 REASONS WHY EUROVISN IS GAY HEAVEN

Yet as Eurovisn heads to Israel – where journalists are ported and former members of the Israeli telligence rps have ttified that Paltians are exposed to non-stop monorg whout any legal protectn or rights – the cricism om the groups has been ’ve also been mimal pared to 2014, when, after Concha Wurst’s w, Rsian policians hurled anti-gay remarks at her and Eurovisn as a whole, g uproar LGBTI muni. Rsia’s ntroversial “gay propaganda” law was still s fancy, and I now hear Rsia’s volvement Eurovisn regularly tied to s track rerd on LGBTI year’s Eurovisn, often nicknamed the “gay Olympics”, is beg held jt weeks before Tel Aviv Pri – an annual event where Israel prents self as a haven for LGBTI exprsn even though queer Paltian cizens of Israel do not enjoy the same rights as their Jewish unterparts.

The Eurovisn mtee 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.

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.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

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 ‘GAY WORLD CUP’: WHY LGBTQ+ DIENC LOVE THE EUROVISN SONG CONTT

“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. “In the late 90s, there was already this well tablished associatn between Eurovisn and gay inti terms of fandom, ” said Cathere Baker, a historian at the Universy of Hull whose rearch foc on the 20th year 1998 marked a change for the televised ntt, one that would make evint s LGBT magism.

“It was very obv that [the dience] was posed mostly of gay men, really sent a signal across Europe, ” Sgleton were also changg on stage.

In 1997, Icelandic pop sger Pl Osr beme Eurovisn’s first openly gay nttant, although he didn’t w.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

The sger’s triumph was a first for a drag queen, but also for an openly gay man – Tom Nwirth, the Atrian man behd the Concha beard (surprisgly, not his own).

Some performers have fied the ban, as was the se wh Fnish sger Krista Siegids, who topped off her terpretatn of the song “Marry Me” 2013 by kissg one of her dancers, th clearly takg sis Europe’s heated polil bat on gay marriage. The global mic world's "gay Olympics" are back wh vengeance, as the fal for the annual wacky tune-filled phenomenon known as the Eurovisn Song Contt will take place Tel Aviv, Israel, on mp athetics are monplace at the always over-the-top Eurovisn, but this year's ntt fal is shapg up as one of s most overtly queer extravaganzas gay, genr-playful, and Mlim teen crooner Bilal Hassani will pete for France, and leather-clad bondage-synth-punk tr Hatari aim to take the crown for Iceland — wh some Eurovisn experts predictg that spe the band's cidly anti-pop approach (or maybe bee of ), they jt might pull off a w.

"I'll never stop playg mic to su someone's polil agenda, nor will I stop speakg out agast vlatns of human rights wherever the world they may be, " the sger told Rters on 19-year-old Hassani, merely petg for France as an openly gay Mlim is a statement self, one that's unfortunately been met wh an onslght of social media attacks over both his relign and his Hassani's eedom-embracg Eurovisn song "Roi" ("Kg"), many have seen somethg of a fiant gay anthem.