Following the second set of semi-finals tonight, Finland’s Eurovision entrant found herself with a place in the final, following her performance of her pro-equal marriage song, which included a lesbian kiss.
Last week, Krista Siegfrids insisted that her song ‘Marry Me’ was not political, but did go on to say that she did want to make a statement about the lack of legal recognition of same-sex marriages in Finland. Organisers forbid “lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political or similar nature”.
Following the performance, in an interview with Danish TV, when asked about the lesbian kiss, Siegfrids said: “It’s just about love – now it’s 2013, and I think I can kiss anyone I want to.
When the interviewer asks how Siegfrids thinks viewers in Belaruse and Azerbaijan might react to her performance she said: ”I think that everybody should have the right to do that. It’s no big deal, it’s not big deal to me. It’s a show, and it’s about love and love is beautiful in any form.”
She goes on to say that she wrote the song for her boyfriend, and that she wants to marry him, and when asked if he minded her kissing a woman on stage, she asserted: “It’s just a show – I have to get married in the show number, and there’s just girls on stage…”
When the interviewer asked her if her boyfriend would propose, she joked: “You’ll have to ask him.”
In the song’s official video, Siegfrids goes in pursuit of the man she wants to marry, with the help of some friends, and eventually, after appearing to kidnap him, he agrees to marry her at the end.
“I don’t think ‘Marry Me’ is political,” said Siegfrids. “It’s about love and tolerance. But gay marriage is not allowed in Finland and that’s wrong. I wanted to make a statement about that.”
Except for the Faroe Islands, in which more than two thirds support legalising civil marriage for gay couples, and legislation to allow it will be introduced this year, Finland is currently the only remaining Nordic country which does not legally recognise same-sex unions.
Both Norway and Sweden approved gender- neutral marriage in 2009. Iceland followed in 2010, and in 2012, Denmark also joined them in legalising equal marriage.
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden will all appear in this Saturday’s Eurovision final.
Registered partnerships were created for gay couples in 2002. In 2009, the Finnish parliament voted to allow gay couples in registered partnerships to adopt the biological children of their partners.
Then, two weeks later, after taking just one day to gather 50,000 signatures on a petition in order to force lawmakers to consider an equal marriage bill, pro-equal marriage pensioners delivered it to parliament.
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