On 10 September 2013, Austrian national broadcaster ORF announced that it had selected Conchita to represent Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in May 2014.
In March 2014, Conchita's song was revealed as "Rise Like a Phoenix", with bookmakers placing her entry as one of the ten favourites to win.
Despite Eurovision's reputation for campness, Conchita's performance was designed to be serious and in good taste, and she was one of just a few performers to appear onstage alone.
Although individuals who identified as LGBT had appeared on Eurovision before – most notably Israel's Dana International, who won in 1998 – Conchita's appearance was described by the New Statesman as the "most genderqueer yet".

Conchita's selection proved controversial and attracted criticism from conservative groups, particularly in Eastern Europe, thus highlighting the continent's regional divide between east and west on the issue of homosexuality.
In Austria, four days after ORF announced its decision, more than 31,000 people had clicked to 'like' an "Anti-Wurst" page on social networking service Facebook.
Petitions emerged in Russia and Belarus calling for their respective national broadcasters to edit out Conchita's performance from the televised contest; the Russian petition asserted that Eurovision had become "a hotbed of sodomy, at the initiation of European liberals".
Conservative Russian politician Vitaly Milonov urged Russia's Eurovision selection committee to boycott the competition as a result of Conchita's inclusion, describing her performance as "blatant propaganda of homosexuality and spiritual decay" and referring to her as the "pervert from Austria".
Armenia's entry for the contest, Aram Mp3, stated that Neuwirth's lifestyle was "not natural" and that he should decide whether he was a man or woman.
Neuwirth hit back: "I told him I don't want to be a woman.
I am just a working queen and a very lazy boy at home."
Aram subsequently apologised, stating that his prior comments had been intended as a joke.

Reacting to these sentiments, the New Statesman commented that "a vote for Wurst is another vote against Russian homophobia and transphobia, and a win would send out a strong message of defiance eastwards", while the International Business Times called on readers to vote for Conchita to upset homophobes.
Highlighting statements such as these as evidence, Spiked declared that many Western European commentators and politicos had adopted Conchita as "a symbol of everything that makes Western Europe superior to the East" and that she had thus become part of a culture war against both Russia and "the so-called bigots and backward types" in their own nations.
On 10 September 2013, Austrian national broadcaster ORF announced that it had selected Conchita to represent Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in May 2014. In March 2014, Conchita's song was revealed as "Rise Like a Phoenix", with bookmakers placing her entry as one of the ten favourites to win. Despite Eurovision's reputation for campness, Conchita's performance was designed to be serious and in good taste, and she was one of just a few performers to appear onstage alone. Although individuals who identified as LGBT had appeared on Eurovision before – most notably Israel's Dana International, who won in 1998 – Conchita's appearance was described by the New Statesman as the "most genderqueer yet".
Conchita's selection proved controversial and attracted criticism from conservative groups, particularly in Eastern Europe, thus highlighting the continent's regional divide between east and west on the issue of homosexuality. In Austria, four days after ORF announced its decision, more than 31,000 people had clicked to 'like' an "Anti-Wurst" page on social networking service Facebook. Petitions emerged in Russia and Belarus calling for their respective national broadcasters to edit out Conchita's performance from the televised contest; the Russian petition asserted that Eurovision had become "a hotbed of sodomy, at the initiation of European liberals". Conservative Russian politician Vitaly Milonov urged Russia's Eurovision selection committee to boycott the competition as a result of Conchita's inclusion, describing her performance as "blatant propaganda of homosexuality and spiritual decay" and referring to her as the "pervert from Austria". Armenia's entry for the contest, Aram Mp3, stated that Neuwirth's lifestyle was "not natural" and that he should decide whether he was a man or woman. Neuwirth hit back: "I told him I don't want to be a woman. I am just a working queen and a very lazy boy at home." Aram subsequently apologised, stating that his prior comments had been intended as a joke.
Reacting to these sentiments, the New Statesman commented that "a vote for Wurst is another vote against Russian homophobia and transphobia, and a win would send out a strong message of defiance eastwards", while the International Business Times called on readers to vote for Conchita to upset homophobes. Highlighting statements such as these as evidence, Spiked declared that many Western European commentators and politicos had adopted Conchita as "a symbol of everything that makes Western Europe superior to the East" and that she had thus become part of a culture war against both Russia and "the so-called bigots and backward types" in their own nations.
Conchita Wurst