Conchita Wurst’s song might not have been the best on offer tonight, but her personality, her embodiment of liberalism and authenticity, combined with a pan-European desire to stick to fingers to the illiberal east triumphed in Copenhagen. She dedicated her victory to peace and freedom. And maybe, just maybe, people start to understand a bit more about gender not being a strictly binary thing.
Here’s some of the Liberal Democrat reaction to what is a definite high day in our calendar:
Kevin Lang thought he saw someone familiar singing for the Netherlands:
@caronmlindsay did you see the Dutch act? Was it just me or did it look suspiciously like Ryan Coetzee singing with Jenny from Forest Gump?
— Kevin Lang (@kevin_lang) May 6, 2014
Ryan wasn’t watching, apparently. But Kevin presented him with the evidence:
@RyanCoetzee @caronmlindsay exhibit A pic.twitter.com/1J6lhOlohj — Kevin Lang (@kevin_lang) May 10, 2014
Many Liberal Democrats had a sharp intake of breath when they heard that Anders Hansson had co-written UK entry Molly’s Children of the Universe. Sadly, it wasn’t ALDC’s ace campaigner.
And someone was definitely out to curry favour with the pogonophiliac wing of the party.
A proper beard and a liberal message – what a combination!
— Jeremy Browne (@JeremyBrowneMP) May 10, 2014
And then AD LIB magazine got cheeky:
— AD LIB (@AdLibMag) May 10, 2014
Oh, what the hell. It’s very late on a Saturday night. I’ll blatantly infringe AD LIB’s copyright. Helen Duffett will probably have me banished. Or whipped. Or something. Here is a photo of Jeremy from Helen’s interview with the Taunton MP while he still had his beard.
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* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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12 Comments
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Oh noes. Caught already. Don’t you sleep?
And Nigel Farage hates Eurovision and opines that it’s “prejudiced against us”: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-27339143
Since I pay absolutely no attention to Eurovision anyway, it’s hard for me to tell: does this kind of rant win Farage knowing nods or (as I think) does it make him look several eggs short of a dozen?
Also, it should be pogonophilia! :-)>
I have the great pleasure to be here in Copenhagen for Eurovision and have just returned to my hotel after a physically and emotionally exhausting but exhilarating evening. I am proud of Europe tonight. As Conchita said “this is for eeveryone who wants peace and freexom. We are united and we are unstoppable”.
I found myself overwhelmed thinking how young, gay men in many countries with poor LGBT records are being shown that their lives are not something to be ashamed of but something that is regarded as equal and valued. I have always proudly proclaimed my love of Eurovision. Tonight it is stronger than ever before.
ONE thing you have got to hand Farage is his totally consistent hatred of anything to do with Europe involving transnational collaboration, even extending (so we learn) to the Eurovision Song Contest (which I must admit I cannot have been bothered to watch since ABBA won in 1970-something). Is there not, beneath the bonhomie, gurning and ‘fags & booze/one of the lads’ exterior, something potentially deeply disturbing about a man who surrenders everything (including, by his own admission, his first marriage and his relationship with the children from this) for every minute of more than 15 years to his ‘crusade’ against not just the EU but anything at all with the word ‘European’ in it (e.g. the European Council, the European Court of Human Rights and, now we learn, Eurovision as well)? The line between commitment/dedication and outright fanaticism can be a fine one.
I did wonder if you were there in the crowd, Paul, as you so often are. I agree that Europe acquitted itself very well tonight. I hadn’t expected Conchita to win by such a large margin and that is certainly extremely hopeful.
It’s how to take that message beyond Eurovision Island and make those LGBT young people’s lives actually better that is the real challenge.
@Caron – absolutely agree. What I found wonderful was that so many countries that I had expected to ignore Austria gave it high marks. LGBT inclusion is extending beyond its traditional Northern/Scandinavian heartlands. Arnie makes the point that the news about Michael Sam in the NFL draft is perhaps even more significant given the hostility traditionally seen in sport.
Instead of knocking on doors -if each political party/leader had to choose a song to sing – which song do you think each would choose?
I think Rise Like A Phoenix would be a great one for Nick Clegg.
Making your mind up for Ed Miliband – seeing as he doesn’t seem to be able to on Europe
Not sure about Cameron, though.
For Cameron – Cliff’s “Power to all our Friends” (as long as they went to Eton [or Westminster at a pinch])
Johnny Logan’s 1980 winner “What’s another year?”, for any of them.