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
• POR QUé EUROVISIóN LE TERA SOBRE TODO AL PúBLI GAY

HOW EUROVISN BEME A GAY-IENDLY NTT

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. As Eurovisn veterans perform at gay pri ftivals om Madrid to Stockholm this summer, we reunt five memorable LGBTQ moments at Eurovisn.

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

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. En 1997 se dió un gran paso cuando el reprentante Islandia, Pl Osr, se nvirtió en el primer participante abiertamente gay.

Amás una las hermanas, Elín, se intifi o  género fluido y reprentante  Israel, Michael Ben David, también miembro l lectivo LGTBIQ+, se intifi o gay y, según pomos ver en s res social, mantienen una relación s hace años. Sheldon, que se intifi o gay, ha ntado en numerosas osn que suió bullyg bido a que no era percibido o “un hombre lo suficientemente masculo”. El ntante MIKA, que abiertamente gay, uno los prentador la gala, lo que lo nvierte, junto n Assi Azar en 2019 y Nikkie Jager en 2021, en la tercera persona LGTBIQ+ que prenta el ftival Eurovisió ta manera, día a día vamos nociendo da vez más sas sobre los participant en el ftival que te año se celebra en Turín.

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. 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. 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.

POR QUé EUROVISIóN LE TERA SOBRE TODO AL PúBLI GAY

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.

“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. 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.