Vision of tolerance

Speaking to Eurovision Song Contest Today the Xena-inspired singer of winning song Wild Dance said she would visit a European Union-backed summer camp for young gay people in the Netherlands to perform her winning song.

It is sad to see that people in Ukraine, a nation that aspires to be a part of European Union, do not have a basic tolerance toward homosexual people, she said.

Regarding the invitation that I obtained from the summer camp in the Netherlands, I think it is really important that the idea of this summer camp has been supported by the European Union, which already advocates tolerance toward gay people on the official level.

Ruslana, who dedicated her Eurovision victory to her husband, has faced criticism in the Ukrainian press following her public support of gay and lesbian tolerance.

Ukraine was one of the first former Soviet nations to remove laws against homosexuality in 1991. Before then, consensual gay sex was punishable by three years in jail, and lesbians were forced to undergo psychiatric treatment. Since the early 90s a small and quiet gay scene has formed in the nation’s major cities.

Meantime, Denmark’s contestant Tomas Thordarson, who married his male partner five years ago and adopted a child six years ago, did not make it through to the Eurovision final.

Despite predictions of a Thorardson victory, the 29-year-old’s song Shame On You did not impress the European semi-final audience, leaving the Danes to give their full attention to the weekend’s royal wedding.