One of my favourite music events to watch is the Eurovision.  It is something that brings out the best from countries from all over the world.  Not surprisingly, one of my treasured family posessions is a memorial coin from Eurovision in 1999 that was hosted in Israel because their contestant, Dana International, won in the previous year.

It is so hard to believe that this Israeli Eurovision winner, Dana International, used to be a boy.  Her popularity skyrocketed after her victory in 1998.  I remember those times when all of my Israeli friends were listening to her song “Diva”.  She returned to represent Israel at Eurovision many times after that, including 2011 with her song “Ding Dong”.

Can you imagine, she was banned on TV and radio when she just started out because “transsexual sent the wrong message to the nation’s youth”?  Still, even in countries like in Canada, I run into people who manage to make a mean comment about a transgendered woman.  Dana was met with a lot of opposition from religious groups when she performed at the Eurovision.  This is what she said as a reponse to that:

“My victory proves God is on my side. I want to send my critics a message of forgiveness and say to them: try to accept me and the kind of life I lead. I am what I am and this does not mean I don’t believe in God, and I am part of the Jewish Nation.”

Now she is over 40 and looks better than most women!  She even dresses more feminine – in most of her videos she is wearing either pantyhose, fishnets, leggings, or some kind of tight sexy leg wear.  Could that be why she is one of my favourite performers?