This morning fans both in Baku and away from Baku were shocked to hear of the hacking of EscToday. They were attacked through what is rumoured to be a denial of service attack, conducted by anti-gay protesters.
When I was only starting to use the internet as a media for my interest in Eurovision EscToday was a key Eurovision website for me. Almost all fans use it regularly and they are the largest Eurovision website after eurovision.tv [the official one]. EscToday above all other Eurovision fan sites have been the most reliable and has been the longest serving website, having been run for over 10 years now.
It is a terrible shame that within a couple of minutes the entire website can be taken down but it is one of the disadvantages of the modern age in which we live. In statement EscToday have confirmed that they will do their best to get back up and running but there has been no indication about how long this will take.
Eurovision websites of any size are run almost exclusively by volunteers who give their time and money to get to Eurovision and to keep their sites up and running. It is not fair that this should happen to EscToday or any website for that matter. But Eurovision is not simply meant to be simply for gay fans. As a heterosexual I do believe that the contest the contest contains something for everyone, not just for the gay community. While hetrosexual fans are probably in a minority there still are many fans out there who are not gay. This is what Eurovision is about, bringing people together. I dislike this whole idea that Eurovision is for a particular group in society or for a particular group of countries. We must strive to overcome this, in doing so attacking Eurovision will not just be about attacking one group, it will be attacking society as a whole.
When I wrote this post originally I had some awkward phrasing which I was unhappy about. I have corrected that now but I would like to acknowledge that this attack does show that there is some people out there who are very much against the gay community, especially on this International day against homophobia. Though at times I am afraid to say something controversial, I do think that even though I come from a Christian family, that the number one thing that Christianity teaches us is Love Thy Neighbour. This above all else should be the basis on which we form our moral codes, before all other teachings. I apologise to anyone who feels offended by this post, this can be a very tricky issue for some.
I wish EscToday all the best in these challenging times.
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