Eurovision and the gay man

Sing your heart out

Eurovision for me means pride and excitement to be associated with states which despite legally repressing my gay tendencies, concurrently amass the campest 3minute (Eurovision rules stipulate songs must be as close to the 3minute mark as possible) sickeningly fabulous pop song each year. Each state competes with 43 other states putting out equally camp, and on top of that, European songs, to win the prize of winner of Eurovision against the backdrop of an audience of 125million people worldwide. It’s obviously hilarious that most states, especially the Balkan countries as well as the Mediterranean ones, are inherently homophobic yet continue to put out such gay party bangers.

In 2003, when Turkey triumphed at the Eurovision Song Contest with Sertab Erener’s overtly sexual, arab-influenced tune ‘Every way that I can’, I was actually in Turkey visiting my family. I remember it well, sitting in my dad’s flat on the 9th floor of a huge block of flats, like all Turks live in, with my family having seen front runners, lesbian pop-duo t.A.t.U lose out (they actually came 3rd in the end) to the surprise winners. The Turkish media was all over it for weeks. That same year we also won Miss World (equally gay – have you seen Miss Congeniality?), and of course all sorts of nationalist pride blew up. Turkey illegalised homosexuality in 1858 and it continues to discriminate based on sexual preference in many serious ways, a known reason for its exclusion from the EU. The military bars all gay and bisexual men from participating, yet military service is mandatory, creating a plethora of problems. Objectors must admit they are ‘sick’ and there have been cases of men having to ‘prove’ their ‘illness’ through intrusive and disgusting ‘exams’.

In 1997, transsexual diva Dana International was victorious with her aptly titled track ‘Diva’, giving Israel second place in the contest. Homosexuality was legalised in Israel in 1993, even within the military, but social progress has been slow. In 2009 a gun attack hit an LGBT centre in Tel Aviv, killing two people and injuring fifteen more. It is the only country in the Middle-East where gay-marriage is recognised, but cannot be ceremoniously carried out within the country.

2007 saw the premiere of Serbia’s entry as a single state, and it won the contest with the contestant many critics believe is a lesbian, Marija Šerifović, and her incredibly boring and undeserving track ‘Molitva’. Although there has been much legal progress in Serbia in terms of gay rights, such as the legalisation of gays in the military since 2010, social progress has lagged behind, with a heightened level of anti-gay attitudes within the state. Many ‘Pride’ events have had to be cancelled in recent years, Serbians continue to view homosexuality as a ‘disorder’.

I find the whole situation ironic; the Eurovision is an event that may as well have the rainbow flag attached to its logo, but as an event of nationalism, has the ability to avoid any anti-gay discrimination. For me, Eurovision is a time where I can be simultaneously proud to be gay, and be British. When at times I find it hard to be proud of where I am from, as a result of discrimination from my fellow Brits, I get one day a year I can feel united with my fellow citizens, in our big fat ludicrously camp nation.

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