From today’s International New York Times (the new incarnation of the International Herald Tribune): “Over the years, Eurovision has reflected Europe’s social and political changes, and this one is no exception. Along with the requisite scantily clad women and hunky men, an Austrian transgender singer, Conchita Wurst, advanced to this year’s finals, to the consternation of Eastern European social conservatives who have called Eurovision the epitome of the morally corrupt West.” There was a photo of Conchita on the front page of the print edition of the International New York Times . Fame indeed! The Austrian media I have seen seem to be simply pleased that Conchita made it to the finals, is representing Austria, and has a chance of winning, so don’t seem to share the opinion of the stated “Eastern European social conservatives”.
One point to clarify, though, I’m not sure that Conchita Wurst is transgender, as reported in the article. My source for that statement is German Wikipedia, so I don’t know how reliable or up-to-date the entry is, but there it is stated that Conchita Wurst is the stage name of Thomas Neuwirth, a cross dresser. Apparently as a homosexual from a small town in the province of Styria, he suffered a lot of discrimination and created the figure of Conchita Wurst to make a statement against discrimination of what is different. The first name was given to him as a nickname by a Cuban friend of his. The last name “Wurst” comes from the expression in German “Das ist wurst”–in other words “that doesn’t matter”. He wanted to express with it that it doesn’t matter where one comes from or what one looks like.
The whole INYT article can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/10/arts/television/eurovision-splashes-into-2014-finals-to-rapt-audiences.html?hp&_r=0
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