COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — When Austria’s entry takes the stage Thursday at the Eurovision Song Contest
in Copenhagen, the spotlight will slowly reveal a lone figure with wide sensual eyes, glossy painted
lips, high cheekbones — and a man’s full dark beard.
Conchita Wurst — the alter ego of 25-year-old Austrian Thomas Neuwirth — already has shocked audiences by
challenging stereotypes of masculine and feminine beauty with the song “Rise like a Phoenix.”
Pushing the boundaries of gender identity is nothing new at Europe’s annual song contest — an
extravaganza known for its eclectic, sometimes-unlistenable lineup of techno beats, love songs and pop
tunes. But the backlash this year against Wurst highlights a rift between Europe’s progressive liberal
side and the traditional values and nationalist rhetoric of Russia and other nations taking part.
Amid growing tensions over the Ukraine crisis, some in eastern Europe have blasted Wurst as an example of
the West’s decadence. Activists in Belarus have even urged the country’s state television network to
edit the Austrian entry out of its Eurovision broadcast.
Russian legislator Vitaly Milonov accused the Austrian performer of “blatant propaganda of homosexuality
and spiritual decay.”
“I can only say ‘Thank you for your attention!’ If this is only about me and my person, I can live with
it,”’ Wurst said about her critics in emails Wednesday with The Associated Press.
“You know, I have a very thick skin. It’s just strange that a little facial hair causes that much
excitement. I also have to add that 80 percent of the autograph requests that I get are from Russia and
eastern Europe — and that’s what is important to me,” she said.
Lisanne Wilken, an anthropologist at Aarhus University in Denmark, said the criticism against Wurst would
have been trivial if it weren’t for the Russian law last year prohibiting so-called gay “propaganda.”

She noted there’s been a lot of “transsexuals, transvestites and drags” in the Eurovision Song Contest,
including Israel’s 1998 winner Dana International, who had male-to-female gender reassignment surgery
several years before competing.
The European Broadcasting Union, which organizes the event, has not received any formal complaints from
the participating broadcasters, spokesman Jarmo Siim said. A national broadcaster is not allowed to edit
out the live coverage, according to the EBU.
Neuwirth, who was born in Gmunden, central Austria, entered show business eight years ago, taking part in
an Austrian TV talent show. After joining a boy band that quickly broke up, Neuwirth first appeared as
Wurst in another Austrian talent show in 2011. She also took part in two reality shows, including one
where candidates had to survive in the Namibian desert together with native tribes.
As she prepared for her performance in Copenhagen, Wurst said she wasn’t paying much attention to the
controversy about her.
“Hey, I’m just a singer in a fabulous dress, with great hair and a beard,” Wurst told AP.
The annual competition is supposed to be completely removed from politics. Neither Russia’s entry —
teenage twins Anastasia and Maria Tolmachevy — nor Ukraine’s Mariya Yaremchuk, whose routine includes a
dancer running in a giant hamster wheel, allude to the recent tensions between Moscow and Kiev.
However, the Ukraine crisis has raised anew questions about the competition’s scoring, which is partly
done by phone voting across Europe.
Even though Russia has annexed Crimea, votes from the Black Sea peninsula will count for Ukraine because
the phone operator there is still Ukrainian, the EBU said.
At Tuesday’s semifinal, the audience booed when it was announced that the Tolmachevy twins had qualified
for Saturday’s final but cheered when Yaremchuk got into it too.
Both have “become the human face of the conflict,” Wilken said, noting Ukraine seems to be some receiving
sympathy support.
Bookmakers place Ukraine in the top 10 and Russia at the bottom.
The winner is picked by juries and television viewers across Europe. The final tally for each country is
a 50/50 combination of the telephone votes and votes of a national jury. A country that received a good
result in the telephone vote could still be left with no points in the overall tally if the jury gave
its highest points to other contestants, according to EBU.
Contest watchers believe Wurst will advance from the second semifinal Thursday. Others considered strong
contenders include Armenia’s Aram MP3, who fuses a traditional piano ballad with contemporary dub step
beats; a haunting melody with traditional sounds from Azerbaijan; a bluegrass tinged World War I homage
from Malta and Hungary’s New York-born singer Andras Kallay-Saunders, whose high-energy song about
domestic violence could end up being a chart hit across the continent.
The competition is hosted by Denmark, the winner of last year’s contest. Organizers say they expect 180
million television viewers this year.