Outing as Performance / Outing as Resistance: A Queer Reading of Austrian (Homo)Sexualities

Abstract

In late July 1995, the calm of Austria's political summer erupted with a new, American catchword: Outing. News, one of Austria's most widely read magazines, had published an expose on July 13, detailing the upcoming political plans of Kurt Krickler-a leading activist in Austria's oldest lesbian and gay organization, HOSI (short for Homosexuellen-Initiative). There, Krickler announced the imminent exposure of the clandestine homosexuality of over a quarter of Austria's Catholic bishops. Specifically, Krickler promised the of five bishops at a press conference to be held on August 1 in the hallowed halls of Vienna's Cafe Landtmann-the primary site of communication between Austria's elected officials and a wider public (Krautler 1995). In an article published a week later in the alternative city paper Der Falter, Krickler elaborated on the rationale for his spectacular and unprecedented Outing-Aktion. Under the title Outing as a Weapon, he focused attention on the ongoing legal discrimination that continues to denigrate lesbians and gay men in Austria (Krickler 1995). Concretely, he protested the continued existence of three anti-lesbian/gay paragraphs in the country's criminal code: Paragraphs 220 and 221 respectively interdict propaganda for between persons of the same sex and the formation of associations intended to facilitate same-sex sexual relations (StGB 1974).' While these two statutes effectively outlaw the creation of lesbian and gay organizations and ban the distribution of informational material pertaining to lesbian or gay concerns, their enforcement remains sporadic, rendering the infamous Paragraph 209 the main battle ground for gay activists. The latter piece of legislation prohibits same-sex sexual of male persons over the age of 19 with their 14to 18-year-old counterparts (regardless of mutual consent). In the absence of equivalent statutes outlawing heterosexual and lesbian (both legal at 14) in these age brackets, Paragraph 209 constitutes clear discrimination against gay male sex-