Vienna to keep its ‘gay traffic lights’

PinkNews logo on a pink background surrounded by illustrated line drawings of a rainbow, pride flag, unicorn and more.

Vienna has decided to keep its gay-themed traffic lights after Eurovision – despite right-wing protests.

The pedestrian lights – featuring gay couples holding hand in place of the usual stick figures – have proved so popular, city councilwoman Maria Vassilakou has promised they will remain in place.

A Facebook page calling for them to stay  has 20,000 likes. They were intended to celebrate the Eurovision Song Contest coming to Vienna, along with other gay-friendly events.

The lights also appear to feature straight couples holding hands.

A spokesperson for the city told Reuters the move was designed to “present Vienna as an open-minded city” as well as improve traffic safety, by attracting attention of pedestrians and drivers

However not everyone is a fan – the right-wing Austrian Freedom party have said they will make a criminal complaint about Ms Vassilakou over the lights. They say they a waste of public money and violate traffic regulations.

Graham Norton bemoaned that it would be a “quite straight” year for the contest, saying: “I think it’s going to be quite a straight contest… there are lots and lots of ballads this year. There aren’t that many upbeat songs.”

Vienna is not the first host city to use Eurovision as a gay rights platform – last year Copenhagen performed a number of mass weddings to mark the contest.

A string of brave Russian same-sex couples were among those who took the opportunity to marry in the city.

Comments (0)

MyPinkNews members are invited to comment on articles to discuss the content we publish, or debate issues more generally. Please familiarise yourself with our community guidelines to ensure that our community remains a safe and inclusive space for all.

Loading Comments