The trend would only become stronger in the decade to follow. Gay men had already been organizing viewing parties for years, when the first Eurovision fan clubs with close LGBT links began cropping up in the 1980s. Observers say that despite the climate of tolerance, Eurovision “came out” gradually, and the change started with audiences. It’s just one big melting pot of various different backgrounds, and being gay or straight is just part of the mix.” “The people who take part in Eurovision don’t see each other as gay or straight. “When you mix all these different cultures you almost automatically create an environment where being a bit different is accepted, where differences don’t matter,” Bakker said. Shining a spotlight on diverse languages, styles and cultures of Europe – and the world – remains at the core of the contest today.
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#Vintage gay men dancing in tuxedos tv
Singleton, who remains a big Eurovision fan to this day, argues that the opportunity to see people on TV who were different helped gay men accept themselves as being outside the norm, and even to celebrate that difference – a process many gay men go through. And one night a year, we could see people from other countries and other cultures and how different they were,” the scholar recalled. We only had access to one thing, one view of the world, one language. “You know, people growing up in that period, including myself, we only had national broadcasters. In the 60s and 70s Eurovision was also a rare window on the world for Europeans still largely isolated from one another.
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The glamour, the spectacle, it’s all those things that gay men invest in to get away from the norms of masculinity,” noted Singleton. “That’s the difference that made Eurovision so attractive. Only one person wins, so it’s a great emotional experience,” he said. All these songs about falling in and out of love, and of course it’s live TV, so things go wrong, adding to the excitement. Professor Brian Singleton, who holds the Samuel Beckett Chair of Drama and Theatre at Trinity College Dublin, and who wrote an article on the sociology of Eurovision for the Society of Queer Studies Journal in 2007, said gay men growing up in the 60s and 70s gravitated toward the event while watching it at home with their parents.Īt a time when social convention told men to show extreme emotional restraint, Eurovision was a welcome breath of fresh air, according to Singleton. Eurovision adopted it, and never looked back. However, the 1970s introduced disco and the genre’s eccentricity to the music contest. There’s the music, but there is also a flamboyancy that goes with it.”Įurovision kicked off in the 1950s and 60s, with a mild-mannered and conventional repertoire of songs. “Last year Conchina Wurst was the perfect diva for gay people.
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We like to dance, we like disco, we like divas,” Barnes said with a measure of self-ridicule. “Eurovision is broadcast in 3D: dance, disco and divas. Paul Barnes, a gay British man in his fifties, has been a fan for decades. He pointed out that Eurovision remains a global event, watched by more than 180 million viewers worldwide, from Portugal to Azerbaijan, and even Australia, which was invited to participate in this year’s edition.Īlthough the song contest is not designed to appeal specifically to the LGBT world, many say it projects the values of tolerance and diversity that are dear to them. “We want to produce great TV shows that appeal to the greatest number of people: No matter where they are from, no matter if they are men or women, young or old, in Europe or out, white or black, homosexual or straight,” Bakker insisted. This fact has not gone unnoticed,” Sietse Bakker, Eurovision’s event supervisor, told FRANCE 24 in a recent interview.īut the Dutchman said Eurovision’s wide fan base could hardly be defined by sexual orientation. “Many of our most dedicated contest fans, those who follow Eurovision throughout the entire year, are from the LGBT community. Slowly, but surely, the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi and transgender) community found a welcoming home in Europe’s annual musical extravaganza.
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Drag queens, a lesbian kiss and a transgender champion are part of the official history of Eurovision, which is organising its 60th edition in Vienna on Saturday.