EUROVISION: Gay Kisses

<p>Last night's Eurovision Programme, broadcast not one but two same-sex kisses.</p> <p>by Newsdesk | 19th May 2013</p><p></p><p> </p><p><img src="http://www.thegayuk.com/communities/8/004/009/928/388/images/4592589198.png" width="461" height="288" alt="The gay kiss at Eurovision | EBU" title="The gay kiss at Eurovision | EBU"/></p> <p></p><p></p><p>An estimated 100 million viewers watched as Finland's entry, Krista Siegfrids, kissed a backing singer and then later on, as two male backing dancers shared a kiss during a song by the competition's host Petra Mede, to celebrate Sweden’s same-sex marriage laws.</p><p></p><p> </p><p><img src="http://www.thegayuk.com/communities/8/004/009/928/388/images/4592589328.png" width="460" height="460" alt="Finland's Controversial Kiss" title="Finland's Controversial Kiss"/></p> <p></p><p>Awareness and activism website, AllOut.org alleged that the show’s broadcaster European Broadcast Union (EBU) had come under pressure to censor Finland’s kiss after it was reported that the Turkish national broadcaster <a href="http://www.thegayuk.com/#/magazine/4574334751/NEWS-Turkey-Cancels-Eurovision-Broadcast-Over-Gay-Kiss/5701809">TRT had cancelled broadcasting the show due to Finland’s same-sex kiss.</a></p><p></p><p>The TRT station claimed that the cancellation of the broadcast was due to low ratings, however it is reported that last year’s final was watched by a quarter of Turkish households.</p><p></p><p>Graham Norton who hosted the UK Broadcast, said,</p><p></p><p>'At the end of the song, two women kiss, if this is something that offends you, grow up.'</p><p></p><p>Among the deeply anti-gay nations that witnessed the kiss were Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, which were recently <a href="http://www.thegayuk.com/#/magazine/4574334751/NEWS-UK-Tops-The-List-Of-Best-Place-For-LGBT-People-To-Live-In-Europe/5691495">dubbed the worst place in Europe for the gay community to live after the ILGA’s rainbow map placed them at the bottom of the league.</a></p><p></p><p>The UK’s entry, Bonnie Tyler, sang ‘Believe In Me’ but failed to get into the top ten, coming 19th out of 26 entries.</p><p></p><p>Finland’s controversial performance came 24th.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> </p>