Eurovision: Same-sex kisses feature in songs for Finland and host Sweden

Tonight Finland’s pro-equal marriage Eurovision entry featuring a lesbian kiss went out to an estimated audience of 100 million in the Eurovision finale, and was joined by a song by the Swedish host featuring a kiss between two “grooms”.

Host Petra Mede sung a piece on Swedish culture including a reference to the country’s same-sex marriage laws, illustrated by two male backing dancers sharing a kiss.

Finland’s Eurovision entrant Krista Siegfrids found herself with a place in the final, following her performance of her pro-equal marriage song, which included a lesbian kiss.

Siegfrids insisted that her song ‘Marry Me’ was not political, but did go on to say that she did want to make a statement about the lack of legal recognition of same-sex marriages in Finland. Organisers forbid “lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political or similar nature”.

When an interviewer asked how Siegfrids thought viewers in countries such as Belaruse and Azerbaijan might react to her performance she said: ”I think that everybody should have the right to do that. It’s no big deal, it’s not big deal to me. It’s a show, and it’s about love and love is beautiful in any form.”

Turkey’s official television station was urged by human rights groups to broadcast the final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, following reports that it had cancelled the broadcast due to a lesbian kiss by Finland’s act on Thursday.

The TRT station claimed that the cancellation of the broadcast was due to low ratings, but last year a quarter of Turkish households tuned in to watch.

All Out has launched a petition urged the President of the European Broadcasting Union to address the issue, and to ensure that Eurovision would “uphold the values of unity and love”, as opposed to censoring Krista’s performance.

In the first hour it was live, the petition gathered over a thousand signatures, it has now received the support of over 35,000 people.

“All Out members are not fooled by Turkey’s weak excuse,” Andre Banks Co-founder and Executive Director of All Out said, “It is clear to the world that Turkey pulled the popular Eurovision show simply because two women expressed love through a kiss. Nothing could be more harmless than a kiss between two people.”

“The Eurovision kiss was not revolutionary. Turkish people already saw a kiss between two women on television. Two women kissed during the 2012 Olympics and that kiss was broadcast on Turkish TV,” Andre Banks said, “The world kept turning and the sun came up the next day. Love should never be feared, it is censorship we should fear.”

• Nov 29 2023

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