Word: haider
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...life, Austria's best-known far-right politician, Joerg Haider, was a media staple. In death, interest in him has skyrocketed again, thanks to the revelation that he may have been gay or bisexual...
...Haider was killed in a high-speed car accident on Oct. 11. Since then, Europe's newspapers, especially those in Germany, have published stories and photographs of the leader surrounded by young men in what the newspapers call gay bars. "Was Haider Living a Double Life?" the mass-market German daily Bild blared this week. A later story showed photographs of Haider's deputy, Stefan Petzner, in low-cut jeans, a dolphin tattooed...
...Even the otherwise circumspect Austrian media is broaching the topic. Newspapers there have published pictures of Haider, who was 58, partying with groups of young men, including shots from the night of his death. "Everybody knew about his sexual orientation," says Thomas Hofer, a former magazine editor who is now an independent political consultant in Vienna. "But there was a consensus in the Austrian media not to write about...
...Austrian newspaper so far has openly declared Haider gay. But the revelations of the past two weeks are far more specific than in the past. "The Austrian press has already gone well beyond where they'd been up to now," says Hofer. "It's a crucial period for the media here...
Born to parents who were early supporters of Hitler's National Socialist party, Haider never held national office, preferring to work behind the scenes while keeping his post as governor of the mostly rural southern province of Carinthia. In 1999 he led the rightist Freedom Party to 27% of the national vote, a result that triggered outrage in Europe and, ultimately, sanctions from the E.U. In last month's elections, the far right had its best showing since World War II, with support from nearly 50% of Austrians under age 30--an outcome that ensures that Haider's divisive legacy...