8 reasons why Eurovisn is gay heaven – Next Gay Thg

Contents:

• IS EUROVISN A GAY EVENT? LGBT PERFORMANC THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF THE NTT
• 8 REASONS WHY EUROVISN IS GAY HEAVEN
• HOW EUROVISN BEME A GAY-IENDLY NTT
• ‘HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT EUROVISN IS VERY POPULAR WH GAY PEOPLE?’
• GAY PRI PARIS (MARCHE S FIERTéS)

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. "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.

8 REASONS WHY EUROVISN IS GAY HEAVEN

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. 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.

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. In Europe, Turkey’s TRT ced Concha Wurst’s 2014 victory as a reason for their whdrawal om the ntt, meanwhile the now-spend Belasian broadster BTRC submted an entry to Eurovisn 2021 which clud suggtively homophobic language.

HOW EUROVISN BEME A GAY-IENDLY NTT

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. Diagnosed wh Asperger’s syndrome as a boy and bullied for beg gay through school, Riley’s Atralian entry to Eurovisn, ‘Not The Same’, is all about that difference and feelg exclud. Dpe anti-gay activists prottg on the streets of Slovenia's pal, Ljubljana, the tr won fans around the world wh their performance of 'Samo Ljubezen (Only Love)', their participatn, wh protts even reachg parliament and the European Stokkan, Norway (1986)In 1986, Norway's Ketil Stokkan performed his song 'Romeo' alongsi a member of the Great Garlic Girls, a well-known drag group.

Wurst has sce bee a vol advote for LGBTIQ+ rights, appearg at Pri ftivals around the world (cludg Sydney's Gay and Lbian Mardi Gras) and even addrsg the Uned Natns. 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.

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.

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

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. '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.

It was followed by a huge amount of artists that belong to the LGBTQ muny and has produced at least two more publicly gay wners – Marija Šerifović and Concha Wurst. “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. 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.

GAY PRI PARIS (MARCHE S FIERTéS)

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. 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 over-the-top pop mic extravaganza known as the Eurovisn Song Contt has long been somethg of an annual holiday for European gays, one where mp reigns and flamboyance is queen, as the natns of Europe (and now Atralia) battle out for tuneful recent years, the pan-ntental petn has creasgly also bee more than that —openly showsg a broad range of LGBTQ inti, and servg as a powerful bean of equaly to dienc across Europe and far beyond, while urtg a fair b of ntroversy the procs.