EU enters transvestite Sisters row

Protesters unfurl a gay rights flag outside TV Slovenia headquarters

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia -- The European Union has stepped into a row in Slovenia about the Eurovision Song Contest and freedom of sexual expression.

Gay rights campaigners say the debate over a group of three transvestites called "The Sisters" has unearthed deep-rooted homophobia in the country.

The song "Only Love" gave the trio a passage to the Eurovision finals in Estonia on May 25.

But the group has triggered fierce debate in parliament, over the Internet, in the press and on TV talk shows.

A public opinion poll by the weekly Nedelo on March 3 indicated that 51 percent of Slovenes felt that the transvestites should not represent their country.

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The leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDS), Janez Jansa, said the group was part of a "crisis of values" in Slovenia.

For the small nation of two million people, eager to become a member of the European Union in 2004 and among the leading candidates to be invited to join NATO at November summit in Prague, the bad publicity is unwelcome.

Lousewies van der Laan, the Dutch chair of the European Parliament's committee on citizens' freedoms and rights, justice, and home affairs, said Slovenia already had a poor reputation following a June 2001 referendum in which 72 percent voted against allowing single women to have artificial insemination.

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"Now that the results of the Eurovision contest are being debated and the issue of gay rights is coming up, it confronts us with the fact that Slovenia is perhaps not yet ready for EU membership," said van der Laan.

She added that respect for people, regardless of lifestyle, was an integral part of democratic European society.

Although "The Sisters" received only a tiny fraction of the public tele-vote on 16 February, the group won because two juries put them top, beating popular Slovenian singer Karmen Stavec.

It led to allegations that the rules had been broken. Some TV subscribers refused to pay their monthly fees and TV Slovenia General Manager Aleks Stakul called for another vote.

The Sisters: "It is our way of life"

Now there was doubt over whether "The Sisters" would go to the finals and gay and lesbian rights groups cried foul.

They said there had been problems with the tele-voting the year before but nobody complained.

"In the current climate, any new vote would be a referendum for or against intolerance," said Miha Lobnik of Slovenian gay rights organisation Legetbitra.

The day before TV Slovenia's Council debated Stakul's proposal, gay and lesbian groups held a press conference in front of TV Slovenia's building in the capital Ljubljana.

Demonstrators carried a giant rainbow flag, an international symbol of the lesbian and gay movement, and handed out red hearts with wings -- symbols of "The Sisters."

Meanwhile, hundreds of people joined Internet chat-rooms and called radio stations, many complaining that "The Sisters" were unsuitable to represent Slovenia. A minority spoke out in their defence.

Finally the TV Council said it lacked the jurisdiction to hold the vote again, although some members admitted mistakes had been made.

So "The Sisters" had their tickets to Tallinn confirmed, but the European Parliament's van der Lann remained unconvinced there had not been a shift in national attitudes.

"Explanations from Slovene officials that the controversy surrounding Slovenia's selection for the Eurovision Song Contest are not connected to homophobia have not been satisfactory," she said.

Meanwhile "The Sisters", Miss Marlena (alias Tomaz Mihelic), a 22-year-old occupational therapy student, 28-year-old Daphne (Sreco Blas), an agronomy student, and 21-year-old Emperatrizz (Damjan Levec), who is at a hairdressers' school, refused to enter the fray apart from a few interviews.

They said they were not afraid of the social climate. "If we were afraid, we wouldn't be what we are. This is not a challenge, it is our way of life."