page_title: Conchita Wurst
section_title: International response
hierarchical_section_title: Conchita Wurst / Participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 / International response
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a photograph of Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst performing at G-A-Y Heaven on Saturday 24 May 2014, several weeks after winning Eurovision. It was taken by the uploader.
context_page_description: Thomas Neuwirth is an Austrian singer, recording artist, and drag queen who is known for his stage persona Conchita Wurst. Neuwirth came to international attention after winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 as Austria's entrant with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix". He uses masculine pronouns when referring to himself but feminine pronouns to describe Conchita.
  Born in Gmunden, Austria, Neuwirth moved to Graz to do his matura exam with a focus on fashion, before embarking on a singing career through the 2007 casting show Starmania. He subsequently became a founding member of the short-lived boy band Jetzt Anders!. In 2011, Neuwirth began appearing as Conchita – a female character noted for her beard – and came second in the Austrian pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.
  Conchita was selected to represent Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, where her performance received the most points and resulted in her winning the contest. It brought her international attention and established her as a gay icon, resulting in invitations to perform at various pride parades, the European Parliament and the United Nations Office in Vienna.
context_section_description: On returning to Austria, Conchita was greeted at the airport by a crowd of over 1000 cheering fans, many wearing fake beards and singing "Rise Like a Phoenix". To journalists, she expanded on the message of tolerance which she had championed at Eurovision: "It was not just a victory for me but a victory for those people who believe in a future that can function without discrimination and is based on tolerance and respect."President of Austria Heinz Fischer asserted that it was "not just a victory for Austria, but above all for diversity and tolerance in Europe". A local radio station celebrated by playing "Rise Like a Phoenix" on a loop 48 times over four hours. The UK's Eurovision commentator Graham Norton commented on the socio-political significance of Conchita's victory: "it seems like Eurovision has done something that matters just a little bit". Greek singers and former Eurovision entrants Helena Paparizou and Anna Vissi expressed their liking of the song and Conchita's appearance. Vissi also compared the latter to Italian singer Mina's similar appearance as a bearded woman on the cover of a 1981 album of hers, to critically highlight that "[it is] 2014 and we still cannot accept statements of diversity."
  Following her victory, Conchita became an icon for Europe's LGBT community. Vienna's tourist board hoped to use Conchita to encourage more gay holidaymakers to visit the city, using her image on the Facebook page "Gayfriendly Vienna". The Week stated that she had become "a serious figure of hope" for some LGBT people living "under the shadow of officially-sanctioned intolerance" in various European countries, while British trans activist Paris Lees commented that across Europe she inspired "millions of people" and stood up for "everyone who has ever been made to feel ashamed or afraid for being different." LGBT rights groups in Serbia and Croatia criticised the tone with which their national broadcasters referred to Conchita, deeming it offensive and homophobic; Serbia's RTS subsequently issued a letter of apology.
  In Russia, "Rise Like a Phoenix" topped the internet download chart two days after the competition.
  Fans of Conchita and LGBT rights activists applied to hold a Conchita Wurst March of Bearded Women and Men through Moscow, Russia, on 27 May, a date commemorating the 21st anniversary since the legalisation of same-sex sexual activity in the country. Officials from the city's security department rejected the request, citing a wish to "respect morality in the education of the younger generation" and to prevent violent clashes between marchers and anti-gay demonstrators. Russian singer Filipp Kirkorov, who helped write the Eurovision song "Shine", called on Russians to respect Conchita's victory, saying: "it was the song that won, and in my opinion it was a beautiful song."
  Criticism continued to be made following Conchita's victory. Volkan Bozkır, then chairman of Turkey's foreign affairs committee, remarked "thank God we no longer participate in Eurovision". The leader of Poland's opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jarosław Kaczyński, said that "Very disquieting things are going on in Europe, things that show decadence, downturn and we would like to reverse this trend." The spokesperson of the Law and Justice (PiS) party stated that "Conchita Wurst is (...) a symbol of Europe I don’t want. My Europe is based on Christian values." Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin posted on social networking service Twitter that the result "showed supporters of European integration their European future: a bearded girl." Russia's opposition politician, the ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, proclaimed "There's no limit to our outrage. It's the end of Europe", later adding that "Fifty years ago the Soviet army occupied Austria. We made a mistake in freeing Austria. We should have stayed." Deputy leader of Russia's opposition Communist Party, Valery Rashkin, announced that "The last Eurovision results exhausted our patience... We cannot tolerate this endless madness", calling for the foundation of an al
caption: Conchita performing at London's gay superclub Heaven in May 2014
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