Eurovision and the rise of the “non-binaries”
Authoritarianism now comes with catchy tunes and trashy outfits.
The annual parade of kitsch and clamour, otherwise known as the Eurovision Song Contest, has devolved somewhat in recent years. Once a harmless extravaganza of camp and self-knowing nonsense, it has gone the way of most gay culture and fallen into the fatal trap of taking itself too seriously. This fluffy creature has started to bare fangs.
Of course, Eurovision has always been political. The tradition of Greece and Cyprus awarding each other full marks was as daft as it was inevitable. But the spectre of war has somehow now intruded itself; in 2022, the public vote for Ukraine was an expression of sympathy rather than a sincere judgement on the quality of the song, and this year the Israeli singer Eden Golan required an escort of around one hundred police officers due to threats from protesters. Such baleful developments take us a long way from the frivolity of “Puppet on a String” and “Hard Rock Hallelujah”.
This year the trophy went to Switzerland’s Nemo, a man in a skirt who identifies as “non-binary”. The UK entry, Olly Alexander, calls himself “gay and queer and non-binary” but magnanimously accepts the pronouns “he” and “him”. And then there is the “queer” and “non-binary” Irish entry Bambie Thug, a woman who came sixth in the competition but first in the award for the sorest of losers. Having being beaten by Israel, whose very presence in the competition was a source of outrage for Thug, she had the following to say:
“I’m so proud of Nemo winning. I’m so proud that all of us are in the top ten that have been fighting for this shit behind the scenes because it has been so hard and it’s been so horrible for us. And I’m so proud of us. And I just want to say, we are what the Eurovision is. The EBU [European Broadcasting Union] is not what the Eurovision is. Fuck the EBU. I don’t even care anymore. Fuck them. The thing that makes this is the contestants, the community behind it, the love and the power and the support of all of us is what is making change. And the world has spoken. The queers are coming. Non-binaries for the fucking win.”
One might argue that all of this is simply an extension of the high-campery of old. Thug certainly looks pantomimic, with her Christmas-cracker devil horns, and the layers of makeup piled on to what used to be a face. But what were once the glittery fripperies of gay culture have been hijacked by the acolytes of gender identity ideology, a movement that has appropriated this whimsical sheen to advance its authoritarian and sinister goals. It is this same movement that has successfully lobbied governments to introduce draconian speech laws, has hounded people out of their jobs for wrongthink, and has normalised bullying and threats of violence in the name of “social justice”.
The very notion of “non-binary” is a reactionary concept dressed up in the guise of progressivism. Most of those who identify as non-binary are embracing, rather than rejecting, sex stereotypes. They claim to feel neither sufficiently masculine nor feminine, which is simply another way of reinforcing what it means to be male or female.
The same ambiguity goes for “queer”. Many gay people see this as a anti-gay slur, associating the term with the practice of “queer-bashing”. But now, many young heterosexuals are identifying themselves into this category as a means to claim the high status that now accompanies victimhood. Dannii Minogue, a lifelong heterosexual, recently “came out” as “queer”. To those who have been the victims of homophobic abuse and violence, it’s galling to see straights embracing the term as a fashion accessory. Minogue may as well have come out as a “faggot” or a “dyke”.
A study by the Arizona Christian University which surveyed six hundred people between the ages of 18 and 37 found that of those in the lower age bracket (18 to 24), 39 per cent identified as “LGBT”. Statistically, the majority of these respondents will be heterosexual. If this trend is to continue, it won’t be long before the “LGBTQIA+ community” will largely comprise of straight people with a kink. In fact, we’re probably already there.
Just because a majority rebrands itself as a minority, that doesn’t make it oppressed. This is the context in which Bambie Thug’s battle cry – “The queers are coming” – ought to be understood. The oppression of gay people throughout history is an incontestable fact, but heterosexuals, however fetishistic, have usually been left alone. It’s little wonder that more and more gay people are rejecting the “LGBTQIA+” label.
One of the common mantras intoned by activist groups and the institutions they have infected is that “non-binary identities are valid”. They are not referring to the standard definition of “valid” as an argument that has “a sound basis in logic or fact”. After all, there are only two human sexes and no third gamete. Rather, in the activist lexicon to be “valid” is an acknowledgement of the legitimacy of personal feelings, or “individual truths”, a close cousin of the notion of “lived experience”.
We are assured that “non-binary people have always existed”, a form of historical revisionism intended to shame anyone who refuses to dance along to the circus march of our times. Gareth Roberts points out the folly of such declarations in his new book Gay Shame, and how they are “throwing back into the unknowable past something that was literally invented on Tumblr in 2011”.
To be “non-binary” is a modish form of self-identification, no different from the “goths” of the 1980s or the “teddy boys” of the 1960s. The major departure is that those who identify as “non-binary” are now demanding that others pretend that their identity is something innate. To be born “non-binary” is about as feasible as being born an “emo”, and I have yet to hear of a case of a baby emerging from the womb in ripped skinny jeans and black eyeliner.
So when Bambie Thug cries out “Non-binaries for the fucking win!”, the connotations are a little more sinister than the teenage trends of yesteryear. Major corporations and public bodies are now insisting that we pretend that people can identify out of the categories of male and female, irrespective of the impact on the rights of women, gay people and children. Laws are being passed that will criminalise those who refuse to play along with the fantasies of narcissists. In other words, there is a lot more at stake than the fleeting fashions of Eurovision.
This comes back to Dave Chappelle’s damning one liner: “trans people make up words to win arguments”. The assimilation of “non-binary” into the mainstream continues apace, with even the Daily Telegraph using they/them pronouns to describe the Eurovision winner. When I recently objected to the BBC about their unquestioning use of “non-binary” in a news bulletin, they replied that it was “widely understood”. Well, not by contributors to the Telegraph comment section it isn’t. Nor to anyone who applies a little critical thinking to its use. It’s a fiction perpetuated by preening narcissists. Nobody should give them the satisfaction of indulging their fantasy, even if it means being threatened by a spell from the evil leprechaun and her Disney version of devil worship.
This is what happens when you don't say no to children, and then fail to follow through...