Drag act to represent Denmark at Eurovision

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • February 12, 2007 - 11:37

The UK has won five times and have achieved the best cumulative points record of any country.

57 Comments on Drag act to represent Denmark at Eurovision

Drag performer DQ will represent Denmark at this year's Eurovision Song Contest.

He won the Danish Melodi Grand Prix, which decides who will represent the country the contest, on Saturday night.

Televised in this country by the BBC, it will be held Helsinki, Finland, on the 12th of May.

Due to the large number of European nations now wanting to take part, some countries, among them Denmark, have to go through a semi-final knock-out the previous Thursday.

DQ's selection as the Danish entry is not the first time that a member of the LGBT community has taken part in contest, which is watched by hundreds of millions across the world.

In 1998, a transsexual pop singer, Dana International, won the contest for Israel.

Last year Eurovision was rocked by political voting and a shock win by Finnish heavy metal band Lordi.

The group, in monster masks and chains, won the contest in Athens with 292 points for their controversial entry, Hard Rock Hallelujah.

None of the "big four" countries made the top ten and Eastern European, Balkan, Baltic and Scandinavian countries all voted for their neighbours.

The UK do not have to qualify through the semi-final as they are a major contributor to the European Broadcasting Union, which runs the contest, now in its 51st year.

Denmark has won twice, in 1963 and 2000. For over a decade in the 1960's and 70's they declined to take part as they thought the contest too low-brow.

Ireland has won Eurovision seven times, which is the current record, though they have not done so since 1996.

The UK has won five times and have achieved the best cumulative points record of any country by coming second a total of fifteen times.

The 2007 British entry will be chosen by phone vote later this year.

Share this story with the world These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.