How Eurovisn beme a gay-iendly ntt

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
• 8 REASONS WHY EUROVISN IS GAY HEAVEN
• ‘HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT EUROVISN IS VERY POPULAR WH GAY PEOPLE?’

HOW EUROVISN BEME A GAY-IENDLY NTT

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.

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

“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.

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

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 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.

8 REASONS WHY EUROVISN IS GAY HEAVEN

“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.

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. And if, om the top of your head, you n name the specific years that happened, well then you know you are a te homosexual–sorry, Eurovisn fan.

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

This song spoke a subtle msage to the queer muny, at a time when homosexualy was still crimalised many parts of Europe. 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. At Melodi Grand Prix 2020, Lisa Vassilieva bid to sg “I Am Gay” for Norway at Eurovisn.

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. Eurovisn should not be dubbed as a gay event and ’s not related to Pri events around the world whatsoever.

Sung by the first openly homosexual woman to participate the Contt (most importantly!

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. You might have missed if you blked but this actually marked the first gay male kiss the history of the Contt.