Royal
Hetero of the year in Norway,
© LIOWLB/Enkidu 25 de enero 2004
Ari
Behn, Consort of Her Highness Princess Märtha Louise, King Harald of
Norway’s oldest daughter was on Friday January 23 honoured with 2
(of 11) awards by Blikk, Norway’s most important GBLT news magazine
in a big celebration in the huge and famous gay discotheque SoHo in
Oslo; Author of the Year and Hetero of the Year. In an
interview with Dagbladet, Norway’s second largest newspaper,
published in Oslo, Ari Behn left no doubt that he was more than happy
with these prizes, which he expressed that he will celebrate with his
many gay friends in Oslo.
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The
award hetero of the year will in the future be given
annually by Blikk Magazine to heterosexuals who have done an
effort for the gay community in one way or another. It is the
second time that members of the Royal Family are honoured with
such prizes in Norway.
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A
couple of years ago, Prince regent Haakon Magnus received the HomoFryd
– (“gay rejoice”) price during the Gay Pride week in Oslo for
his efforts for the gay community of the capital. The Royal House has
on several occasions expressed solidarity with the gay community
through word and action, culminating when Karen Kristine Friele, the
grand old lady of the Norwegian Gay Movement was knighted for her
enduring fight for gay rights as Enkidu wrote about 2 years ago.
Ari
Behn publicly demonstrated his pride and gratitude for the awards by
appearing in an appropriate and extravagant costume in golden silk
brocade with flower applications and matching scarf, which received
considerable favourable comments in the gay community as well as in
the Oslo press.
Ari
Behn received the award “Author of the Year” for his novel Bakgård
(Backyard), in which he describes vividly and sensitively the
experiences of a young man in the gay community of Tanger in Marrocco.
The book also has explicit homoerotic passages. Ari Behn has himself
spend considerable time in Tanger before he married Princess Märtha
Louise and had opportunity to explore the local gay scene from within
and make close friends there.
During
the award ceremony in SoHo, the moderator Are Kalvø, read aloud
selected passages from the book to the audience while successively
impersonating a horny Nynorsk speaking man (Nynorsk is Norway’s
second official language, used by approximately 15% of the population.
In Oslo, however, Nynorsk sometimes is attributed with a certain
rural, hillbilly flair), Her Majesty Queen Sonja, Ari Behn’s mother
in law, and the minister of Church affairs, Valgerd Svarstad Haugland.
Dagbladet writes that also Ari Behn had a good laugh.
Ari Behn expressed to Dagbladet that he was flattered
that he had received both awards, but in particular the “author of
the year” prize meant a lot to him. His book received criticism in
the press for using several gay clichés when it was published last
year. Now he could state to Dagbladet:
“that
the gays embrace the book, indicates that I have been able to describe
a milieu which gays all over the world can recognize”
[-
At homsene omfavner boka, tyder på at jeg har klart skildre et miljø
som homser over hele verden kjenner igjen. ]
Member of Blikk’s jury Ernas Bøyum about Ari Behn:
“He
has unquestionably published the most courageous book of the year.
That he is elected hetero of the year, a new price this year,
happened because he is a role model for gays. He talks aloud about
love and big emotions, he loves whom he wants, and he carries with him
feminine values.”
[-
Han har udiskutabelt gitt ut årets modigste bok. At han også kåres
til årets hetero, en ny pris av året, skjer fordi han er et
forbilledlig eksempel for homoer. Han snakker høyt om kjærligheten,
om store følelser, og han elsker den han vil. Og han bærer i seg
feminine verdier. ]
© LIOWLB/Enkidu 25 de enero 2004
Los
Martes de Enkidu
Febrero 2007
