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Vienna gets ready for Pride Parade amidst far-right criticism

Austria's largest Pride event is taking place this Saturday. Here's what you need to know about the event, other Regenbogenparaden taking place in the country and what the far-right, currently leading voting intention polls, has to say about the celebrations.

Published: 15 June 2023 11:47 CEST
Vienna gets ready for Pride Parade amidst far-right criticism
June marks the Pride Month in Vienna (copyright: Vienna Pride / Dominik Steinmair)

On Saturday, Vienna’s Pride Month celebrations culminate in Austria’s largest Pride parade, with an estimated 250,000 visitors showing up along the route.

Kicking off at 13:00 on Saturday from Rathausplatz, the “Rainbow Parade” follows the Wiener Ringstrasse, finishing up again at Rathausplatz, where marchers will finish up the parade with a demonstration around 18:00. Organisers say the demonstration focuses on rights, acceptance, and security for LGBTQI people in Austria, Europe, and around the world.

A ban on conversion therapy, which often involves invasive methods for “changing” a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, is currently pending in Austria.

Vienna Pride maintains a calendar of events leading up to the parade, including a Pride Conference at City Hall on Friday and a Queer City Walk late Thursday afternoon showcasing Vienna’s queer history. The tour is available in several languages, including English.

Far-right protests parliamentary rainbow colours

This year’s celebrations come amidst complaints from the far-right FPÖ, currently leading the polls in Austria ahead of federal elections next year, about the Austrian Parliament being lit up in rainbow colours.

FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl wrote an open letter accusing National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP) of using the parliament building for what he considers to be staged events “of a very special kind,” saying the letter represents the views of the entire FPÖ contingent in Parliament. 

Kickl also mentioned that participating in Pride Month would “inevitably express solidarity with other actions.” He cited “performances of transvestites (drag queens) with clearly sexually motivated stage names in front of children” or “marches of naked and sexually suggestive people,” calling for Austrian MPs to withdraw their participation.

Pride events elsewhere in Austria

Although Vienna certainly sports the largest Pride in Austria – it’s definitely not the only one. Mistelbach and St. Pölten already had theirs in May, with Bregenz having followed earlier this month.

One week after Vienna, on June 24th, Linz is expecting around 8,000 people to turn up for the Linz Pride parade and Open Air Party.

Graz will follow suit with a parade and party of its own on July 1st, with about 15,000 people expected, followed by Unken – a small village near Salzburg – on July 15th.

Lastly, Salzburg itself wraps up Pride season in Austria with its own parade on September 2nd.

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DISCRIMINATION

‘Some people lost everything’: Austria compensates victims of anti-gay laws

Austria has set aside millions of euros to compensate around 11,000 gay people who faced prosecution until two decades ago. But victims say the money "won't erase" the damage by the state to people's lives.

Published: 25 March 2024 09:32 CET
'Some people lost everything': Austria compensates victims of anti-gay laws

Austrian consultant Michael Woditschka well remembers the fateful day when he was summoned by police over his relationship with a teenage boy and subsequently convicted in court.

The 44-year-old is one of about 11,000 gay people who until two decades ago faced prosecution in Austria but are, since February, now eligible for financial compensation.

Even though Austria decriminalised homosexuality in 1971, certain discriminatory provisions remained in force until the early 2000s.

Woditschka says he will accept the money offered as compensation to him by the Austrian state, which has officially apologised for convicting him of homosexuality in 1999.

But the compensation “won’t erase what happened”, he told AFP, recalling the humiliation he endured as a 19-year-old.

“I was searching for my own identity and all of a sudden I found myself being treated like a sex offender at the police station, forced to describe my sex life in full detail,” said Woditschka.   

Woditschka was on a list of acquaintances his former partner, then 16, had to provide to authorities after being arrested for having sex in a car with another man.

After a humiliating court hearing, which forced him to disclose every detail of their relationship and was closely watched by the press, Woditschka was fined for “same-sex fornication with a minor”.

“The whole of Austria suddenly knew that I was gay – when, with whom and how,” he said.

Austrian consultant Michael Woditschka, 44, points to a document sentencing him to pay 350 Euros, in his apartment in Vienna, Austria on March 7, 2024.

Austrian consultant Michael Woditschka, 44, points to a document sentencing him to pay 350 Euros, in his apartment in Vienna, Austria on March 7, 2024. (Photo by Joe Klamar / AFP)

‘Social death’

Under Adolf Hitler’s Nazi rule, Austria as part of the German Third Reich had persecuted homosexuals to death.

Despite the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the early 1970s, thousands of gays and bisexuals continued to be convicted under newly introduced sections of Austria’s penal code.

READ ALSO: Austria to compensate gay people convicted under discriminatory laws

A ban on male homosexual prostitution remained in place until 1989 although heterosexual prostitution was legal.

Until 2002, the age of consent for sexual contact between men was 18 – compared to 14 for heterosexuals.

“Even if you were handed a suspended sentence, you were usually remanded in custody and then everyone knew,” explained Andreas Brunner, 62, an expert on LGBTQ history and co-director of the QWIEN archive centre.

“For many it was a social death,” Brunner said.

Convictions were registered on people’s criminal records, in turn triggering a ban on certain professions.

The ruling conservative party did not amend the legislation, even though it was contrary to European law, Brunner said.

Instead, the party argued, with the support of the Catholic Church, that it was necessary to “protect young men from homosexuals”, he explained.

A decision by the European Court of Human Rights in 2002 obliged the Austrian government to end the years of discrimination.

Since then, Austria’s highest court has ruled on several cases of discrimination against sexual and gender minorities.

In 2019 it allowed same-sex couples to marry and adopt children.

‘Reopening wounds’

When she outlined the compensation programme set up last year, Justice Minister Alma Zadic said it was of “immense importance that we… finally take responsibility for this part of our history”.

In 2017, the German parliament voted to quash the convictions of 50,000 gay men sentenced for homosexuality under a Nazi-era law which remained in force after the war, and to offer compensation.

Earlier this month, French lawmakers approved a bill to compensate LGBTQ people convicted under discriminatory laws between 1942 and 1982.

Austria has now set up a compensation fund of €33 million.

Since February, LGBTQ people who were investigated under the now-repealed laws are eligible to receive €500.

Those who were convicted will have their convictions quashed.

They will be compensated to the tune of €3,000 – or more if they suffered health, economic or professional woes as a result.

Woditschka said he welcomes the initiative but it was “insufficient”.

“Some people have lost everything,” he said.

He said he would have appreciated it more if the authorities had “written to us directly” instead of asking those affected “to provide evidence ourselves” first.

“Many people will say that it’s not worth reopening the wounds” for what is considered to be just a tiny amount of money, he said. 

By Blaise GAUQUELIN

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