Yahoo – AFP,
Simon Sturdee, 16 Jan 2015
 |
Participants
attend the Rainbow Parade march, on June 15, 2013 in Vienna, whose
reputation
for tolerance is in trouble just as it seeks to attract more gay tourists
|
Vienna's
iconic cafes are famous the world over, offering customers top-notch coffee,
creamy cakes and sanctuary from the modern world in an atmosphere that harks
back to a golden bygone era.
But one
such venerable institution, the 112-year-old Cafe Prueckel, is in hot water
over an incident that threatens to tarnish the Austrian capital's reputation
for tolerance just as it seeks to attract more gay tourists.
And it all
comes less than a year after the country's bearded transvestite Conchita Wurst
-- with her long glossy mane, heavy makeup and stiletto heels -- helped put
Vienna on the gay map by winning the Eurovision Song Contest.
 |
Participants
attend the Rainbow Parade
march, on June 15, 2013 in Vienna, whose
reputation
for tolerance is in trouble just as
it seeks to attract more gay tourists
|
The waiter
was less than impressed and the couple say they were refused service for more
than two hours and then barred when they kicked up a fuss.
Lopez told
Austrian newspapers that Christl Sedlar, manager of the cafe on Vienna's famous
Ringstrasse boulevard, informed the outraged pair that "diversity such as
this belongs in a brothel, not in a traditional coffee house".
"We
don't need any canoodling. Why was it absolutely necessary for the couple to
show that they were an item," Sedlar told the Kurier daily.
All might
have ended there but Sedlar's parting shot, unwisely as it now turns out, was
that if the pair didn't like how they had been treated then "you girls
could always go on Facebook".
And so they
did. With the help of several LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender)
groups -- and a Facebook page, they organised a demonstration outside the
Prueckel for this Friday evening.
By Thursday
-- the day before -- 7,300 people had announced their attention to take part.
Co-organiser Tamara Mittermann, head of the Axis of Critical Students (AKS),
said she expects around a third or a half of these to actually turn up.
"This
is not the first homophobic incident in a Vienna cafe," Mittermann told
AFP. "Austrians feel like they are very tolerant ... but in fact this
isn't the case. There is for example no legal protection against discrimination
in the private sphere."
Manager
Sedlar issued an apology of sorts on Thursday -- but it looks like this will do
little to calm tempers.
Pink
euros
Vienna's
cafe culture dates back to the end of the 17th century -- legend has it that
the retreating Turkish army left coffee beans behind in 1683 -- and is included
in UNESCO's list of intangible cultural assets.
Their
heyday was in the late 19th and early 20th century when they were a haven for
Europe's cultural and intellectual elite like Sigmund Freud and Gustav Mahler
-- as well as the likes of Lenin, Trotsky, Tito and a certain Adolf Hitler.
Although
this belle epoque is long gone and the number of cafes have dwindled, they
remain popular hangouts for locals and tourists alike, with visitors allowed to
spend hours poring over the newspapers and ordering very little.
But
Vienna's tourist board is also pulling out all the stops, like other European
destinations, to attract gay tourists. Last year 80,000 people voted Vienna as
their favourite cultural destination on website GayCities.com.
Although it
may be a little less racy than other cities, there is also "fun to be had
after dark, with plenty of fetish parties, saunas and gay clubs to keep even
the most energetic boy or girl happy," the website said.
"We
have been targeting LGBT tourists since 1998 and this unwelcome episode in Cafe
Prueckel is definitely counter-productive," Vera Schweder from the Vienna
tourist board told AFP.
"But I
think this is an exception, generally this is a very welcoming place."
 |
| Eurovision Songcontest winner Conchita Wurst (L) is congratulated by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon after his performance by Wurst at the United Nations headquarters in Vienna, 03 November 2014. EPA Photo/Roland Schlager |
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