Entry of the LGBTQIA*++ at the Vienna Opera Ball
The highlight of the ball season in Austria is traditionally at the beginning of the year. And the debutante ball as part of the Vienna Opera Ball is the highlight of this climax, which consequently takes place at the beginning; after that, after all, it is no longer dancing but attendance that is the core of the event, for which standing room behind the stairs is available for 350 euros.
For the first time, two young women from Baden-Württemberg applied to participate as a couple and were accepted. The strict requirements were age between 17 and 24, mastery of the Left Waltz with audition last October, and the assurance that the gentleman would enter in a tailcoat and the lady in a snow-white dress at least ankle-length. Tiara as instructed for the lady, patent black shoes, no rubber soles and no tie for the gentleman ... and many other little things. The fastidious observer, however, will note on perusal of the regulations that neither species nor sex are named, nor whether a couple is to consist of a gentleman and a lady.
'The guidelines remain in place'
This was announced by the Viennese press office on request of the dpa at the weekend. The question about same-sex couples was not answered, nor whether two dress or two tailcoats could dance together. After Austria has shown courage in similarly significant questions of culture, although the people in the Alpine republic tend to be short to very short-tempered, the participation in the European Song Contest with a member of the undecided community (the Anglican abbreviation LGBTQIA stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans(gender), Queer/Questioning, Intersexual, Arising, as well as the asterisk and plus sign for orientations not taken into account, such as heterosexual, which has just as little place there as androgynous, metro, pansexual or heteroflexible persons; Labels that didn't exist in the past, where everyone decided whether they liked one gender or the other, and today there are more genders and orientations than types of coffee at the franchise café) and the recently established right to vote for women of modernity and foresight.
Many previous attempts have failed
Furthermore, the organisers maintain that so far only young women and young men have applied as couples, but there are documented cases of a man entering with his trained Doberman bitch in 1984 (he had applied with his girlfriend, who, however, had separated from him shortly after the audition and left with the animal); most recently, in 2002, a woman wanted to participate with a black horse. The attempt blew up when the dance school in charge noticed that the couple had six legs. The son of a famous primatologist wanted to participate with his shaved orangutan lady Peggie, but she was only 15 years old at the time of the application, otherwise there would have been nothing against the sympathetic forest dweller.
The future will show whether the Vienna Opera Ball with its opening climax, which 100 years ago still meant the introduction of young ladies into society, will become more and more a political plaything. And if not, there are still enough embarrassing moments of individuals who draw attention to themselves in the course of the evening that they can be reported on.