Are We Europe Readouts

Imagine a space where all parts of your identity can be expressed, self-acceptance is encouraged, and a sense of community can be found. For queer Muslims, who often find themselves excluded at the crossroads of their multilayered identities, such spaces can provide an antidote to the discrimination and injustices they experience. This story is a part of our magazine—The Queer Issue.

How a queer video game character made Edwin van de Scheur fall in love. This story is a part of our magazine—The Queer Issue.

Fado Bicha defies fado’s traditions and brings lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex themes into the core of Portuguese traditional music. It’s queer because it’s not ashamed of showing itself: “Fado is rooted in four elements: melody, harmony, rhythm and lyrics. Its main role has always been to tell a story: about the city, about the joys and sorrows of love. This story is a part of our magazine—The Queer Issue.

Best described as a “cant”—a form of language spoken by a group and that is unintelligible to outsiders—Polari was mostly spoken by British gay men until the mid-20th century. Consisting of around 500 words, it resembles a mixture of English with Cockney rhyming slang, Italian and Yiddish. Speakers used it for secrecy, to identify each other and for camp humour. This story is a part of our magazine—The Queer Issue.

“Integration has nothing to do with learning the Chancellor’s name.” Reflecting broader society, social spaces specifically conceived to welcome migrants and refugees are often marked by heteronormativity. Instead of finding a safe haven, queer migrants are once again forced to hide their sexual preferences and live in fear of being found out as they did back home. This story is a part of our magazine—The Queer Issue.

Adolfo Martínez was kicked out by his parents when he was only 18—because he liked boys. Eight years later, he set out to create an organisation that would help other LGBTQ+ youth who, like him, had been victims of physical attacks, or struggled financially. Respeta is a bottom-up organisation in Madrid that, for the past ten years, has been offering educational and sports training to LGBTQ+ youth. This story is a part of our magazine—The Queer Issue.

From the 1960s to the 1990s, four Georgian women ruled the world stage—also including Nana Alexandria and Nana Ioseliani. Dubbed druzhina—a combat-unit—by commentators, they inspired a mushrooming of chess schools up and down the country. From our latest print magazine, this story explores the history of Georgian women chess players and their impact on the game.

It is common for European sport clubs to sign immigrant athletes, but their treatment of them is often disrespectful. Some days they are praised for their spectacular accomplishments, other days they are barred from competition altogether. At times, they are even accused of possessing unfair genetic and environmental advantages, having come from the East African highlands to steal spots from their European-born counterparts. This story is from our latest magazine, which explores the struggles of being an African career athlete in Europe.

Throughout Europe, carnival marks the start of the Christian fasting season of Lent, and typically involves celebrations such as parades and street parties. Elaborate costumes and masks allow people to set aside their identity. This story from our latest print magazine explores the role of women in  European carnivals.

The Ottery Tar Barrels are a twist on customary Guy Fawkes night celebrations, an annual British tradition normally commemorated with bonfires or fireworks. Similar events—where barrels are rolled rather than carried—have historically been part of some celebrations, especially in the South West. But it is believed that running with the barrel on your shoulders is a tradition unique to Ottery. This is a story from our latest magazine on sports which uncovers why English villagers carry lit barrels of tar once a year. 

In 1974, the greatest Dutch team of all time had been beaten by West Germany in the World Cup Final in Munich. Fourteen years later, they returned to Germany under the same coach, Rinus Michels, and won the European Championships. To this day it remains their only major title, yet it is not so much the final that everyone remembers as the semi-final. The cathartic victory over the Germans in Hamburg was worth more than the trophy. It was revenge. This is a story from our latest magazine on sports which explores if when the Dutch national football team painted the continent orange in 1988, Europe was already looking forward to a brighter future. 

This is a story from our latest magazine on sports which explores wheel gymnastics, a vertigo-inducing discipline, also known by its original name of Rhönrad. 

In the Basque country, stone lifting is one of 18 officially recognised rural sports rooted in traditional lifestyle and folklore. Others include wood chopping, hay bale lifting, and the cart game. Their roots go back to everyday activities performed by farmers and quarry workers to make a living. Today, they are especially popular during local festivals, where betting is commonplace.This is a story from our latest magazine on sports which uncovers how  rural sports keep folklore alive in the Basque Country. 

Line dancing was born in the United Stated in the 1970s, as country music merged with the disco scene. Today, it’s practiced worldwide, and is associated with the mythology of the American West.This is a story from our latest magazine on sports which explores how line dancing became all the rage in post-socialist East Germany.

In Sweden, the story of pétanque goes back to the 1950s, when a French-Swedish man called Jacques Adlivankin brought the game back from a visit to France. He introduced it in the suburbs of Stockholm, where it was initially played on football pitches. This is a story from our latest magazine on sports which explores how the boulebar finally democratised pétanque in Sweden.