Sunday, May 11, 2014

Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Each year over 30 European countries and a few neighboring countries among the European Broadcasting Union compete in an international song contest. Each participating nation submits a song, which is then performed live at the contest.



This year's Eurovision Song Contest is another stride forward for the LGBT community, with the landslide victory of Conchita Wurst (Tom Neuwirth), an Austrian transvestite artist, with his song Rise Like a Phoenix. His performance met widespread controversy, especially in much of eastern Europe. After the announcement in September 2013 that Wurst would represent Austria, the Belarus Ministry of Information received a petition to edit Austria's performance out of its broadcast. However, despite this opposition, Austria received a significant number of votes from many conservative countries such as Azerbaijan and Armenia, where LGBT rights remain taboo.

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