Finland’s Eurovision entrant wants to ‘make a statement’ about country’s lack of equal marriage

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Finland’s entrant for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest has avoided rules which forbid political messages, to voice a statement against the country’s lack of equal marriage legislation.

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”.

The song ‘Marry Me’, by Krista Siegfrids, will be performed at the 58th annual Eurovision Song Contest later this month in Malmö.

In the 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.”

But despite the union in the song’s video being heterosexual, Siegfrids has already made a statement when, at the weekend, at the Eurovision In Concert, in Amsterdam, she kissed a female backing dancer as part of her routine, and said she plans to do the same at the competition.

She said: “Homophobic people are angry with me for doing this. But I’m planning a surprise at the end of my performance. It’s live on TV, so nobody can stop me.”

Siegfriends also expressed hope that British voters would support her act, saying: “Since you can’t vote for your own entry, I hope you will vote for Finland. I know the show is watched on huge screens in gay bars in Soho and I want to get everyone’s support in Britain.”

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.

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.

On 1 March this year, the Finnish parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee voted narrowly to reject a bill to legalise equal marriage.

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.

Last week, an equal marriage themed parody of Siegfrids’ song, went viral online, and was shot in 10 countries with over 150 participants. It has been viewed almost 150,000 times, compared to 130,000 views the original has received.

 

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