Thomas “Tom” Neuwirth (born 6 November 1988), better known as his drag persona Conchita Wurst, is an Austrian singer. In the role of Conchita Wurst, he will represent Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen Denmark this week.

“For me the most special and honoring thing is that Austria shows tolerance and acceptance and I’m so happy to be this statement. I’m allowed to be the voice of their beliefs during this time and this really makes me very proud. We, and not at least myself, want to stand for a society without hate and discrimination. And if I’m honest, I think everyone of the contestants should stand for the same, cause we are joining a very open minded project, so they should be open minded too.

For me as a musician it’s like the biggest thing so far. I really want to reach a good place in the ranking for my country, and for myself, I want to be proud of my performance. Cause I’m my worst critic. Besides that, I really hope that I get the chance to change some minds all around Europe. I want to show them that you can look whatever you want and that everybody must have the right to live their life however they want it, if nobody gets hurt.”

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