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The winning nation of the Eurovision Song Contest gets to host the event the following year, with gay fans of the contest often comprising one of the largest groups of tourists in attendance. Today noted British LGBT activist Peter Tatchell warns that this year's Eurovision winner, Azerbaijan, is an unsafe destination for gay people.
"Azerbaijan is not a welcoming or safe country for LGBT people. Although homosexuality was decriminalised in 2001, the LGBT community suffers police harassment and brutality, including bashings, blackmail, intimidation, bribery and invasions of privacy. LGBT people risk eviction from their homes and dismissal from their jobs. They have no legal protection against discrimination. Homophobic prejudice, threats and violence are systemic problems. The Eurovision organisers must seek guarantees from the Azerbaijani government that it will respect human rights, that visitors to next year's competition will not be victimised and that domestic and foreign media covering the event will be able to report freely, without harassment."
With a strong 211 points, Azerbaijan's schlocky pop duo Ell & Nicki were the surprise winners tonight at Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Dusseldorf. Italy's Rafael Gualazzi and his retro 1940's sound took second place with 189 points. Third place went to Sweden's cheesetastic Eric Saade with 185 points. Ireland's glitzy disco twins Jedward, the favorites of many gay fans, placed ninth. Aging British boy band Blue, one of the most commercially successful acts to ever compete, placed 11th. My personal pick to win, Serbia's Nina, finished in 14th place. So much for my Eurovision prediction streak.
This Saturday at the Stonewall Inn, Flotilla DeBarge will host a screening party for gay fans of the Eurovision Song Contest, which airs live from Germany at 2pm. Go Serbia!
I've already posted all 42 entries for 2011, but since I'm picking Serbia to win, here's a just issued English-language production video for Nina's entry. It's very Swing Out Sister meets Basia and sounds just as great in Serbian.
Officially competing as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia due to a long-running dispute over Greece's region with the same name. Rusinka is Macedonian for "Russian girl."
This will only be San Marino's second Eurovision. And it's a rather blah entry that reveals Senit's roots in musical theater.
Known to some as Bulgaria's version of Pink, at the age of nine Genova was the host of the popular television show Bon-Bon. Her title of her entry translates as Stubborn and is a call for young Bulgarians to resist emigrating to other countries.
Lena won for Germany last year with her single, Satellite, which is why this year's contest is in Dusseldorf. Don't think I recall a country sending the same contestant two years in a row. I'm not loving this as much as I did Satellite.
