Conchita Wurst to perform for European Parliament next week
Eurovision drag artist Conchita Wurst has been invited to perform for the European Parliament in Brussels next week.
The Austrian diva, who took home the crown at Eurovision this year despite a homophobic backlash across Europe, was invited by a group of MEPs to perform outside the Parliament on October 8.
Austrian Green MEP Ulrike Lunacek – one of the politicians who extended the invitation – says she hopes the concert will send a message against discrimination.
She said: “The wonderful signal for openness and anti-discrimination that the people of Europe gave Conchita Wurst with their votes must be translated into forging a society and legal framework allowing everyone to live and to love without fear.”
The event is backed by five of the Parliament’s major factions – the Greens, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, the European People’s Party, the Socialists and Democrats, and the United Left – though neither Nigel Farage’s EFDD group nor the Conservatives’ ECR group is listed as a supporter.
Ms Lunacek, who is Austria’s first openly gay MEP, was attacked with acid during Vienna’s pride parade in June – but miraculously escaped unharmed.
Following Wurst’s victory, Russia developed plans to revive a Soviet era Eurovision rival as a ‘family friendly’ alternative, but the idea was quietly dropped last month.
Wurst broke into the fashion world earlier this summer, appearing in a photo shoot with legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld.
