Sweden has won Eurovision, after an at times neck-and-neck and controversial battle with Russia. Mans Zelmerlow's winning song is called Heroes, and in accepting the prize he said “we are all heroes, no matter who we love, who we are or what we believe in”. Eurovision has a massive gay following, and boos from members of the crowd directed at Russia over its homophobia and transphobia were dealt with by 'anti-booing technology', as the broadcast aired from Vienna. There are also reports a performance by last year’s winner, bearded lady Conchita Wurst, was censored by Russian TV. Wurst went on to interview the Russian contestant. Zelmerlow, has himself been controversial over he comments he has made in the past, saying gay sex is ‘not natural’. In an appearance on a celebrity cookery programme, he claimed it “isn’t equally natural for men to want to sleep with one another” before adding “there isn’t anything wrong with it at all”. Zelmerlow later apologised and said “I believe and hope that the vast majority know that I respect differences and all forms of love.” The 28-year-old pop singer and TV presenter has since told the UK’s Gay Times he has been a friend and supporter of the lgbt community for all of his career, taking part in a lot of Pride events and charity galas. “[On the programme in question] I used some stupid words, and I was going for a word to describe homosexuality that meant ‘not as common’ but instead I chose a word that had a negative ring to it, which was: ‘natural’. “But I think that homosexuality is just as natural as heterosexuality, and I’ve been wanting to apologise at every given opportunity over the last year, and I will continue to apologise because I am extremely not homophobic.”Australia was allowed a special entry to compete in Eurovision for the first time. Its entrant, Guy Sebastian, finished fifth. GayNZ.com Daily News staff - 24th May 2015
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 24th May 2015 - 10:53am