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…
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HOW EUROVISN BEME A GAY-IENDLY 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 * gay eurovision winner *
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.
EUROVISN WNER MANS ZELMERLOW THANKS HIS GAY FANS
For s legn of gay fans, Eurovisn has long been more than a song ntt. * gay eurovision winner *
‘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. 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 Eurovisn Song Contt is for everyone, whether "gay, straight or between". LGBT visibily the ntt clus both LGBT them the petg acts and performers themselv. * gay eurovision winner *
"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. 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.
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.
* gay eurovision winner *
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.
A gay Mlim teen and BDSM anarchists will vie for this year's Eurovisn Song Contt, as the petn's only trans and drag champns return. * gay eurovision winner *
"Eurovisn isn't an LGBTQ+ event but 's affectnately referred to as 'Gay Christmas', " explas the dited ntt fan. The first LGBTQ-themed performance at Eurovisn me at the 1986 ntt, two years before Sectn 28 would ban all mentn of homosexualy Brish schools. Pl Osr was the first out gay Eurovisn artist to take to the stage his own right for Iceland 1997, and the hts of what the ntt uld bee emerged — PVC troers, jewels, eye shadow and all.
U, who aggrsively cultivated a lbian image, have a particularly ntroversial place the history of queer pop mic — not least bee former member Julia Volkova, who prevly intified as bisexual, has sce ma extreme homophobic ments. But they channelled much more (arguably-appropriated) queer energy durg their terval eback at the 2009 ntt Mosw, performg “Not Gonna Get Us” wh the Red Army Choir ont of a pk flowery tank – probably not the image that Vladimir Put would seek to project the days a post-‘gay propaganda’ law Rsia. But Bilal Hassani, who is queer and was born to a Mlim fay, did so after facg months of homophobic and racist abe onle.
Meanwhile, Mika – who is gay – is one of the hosts of the 2022 ntt, meang we have yet more queer reprentatn among the Eurovisn hosts this year.