Postcard from... Vienna

Eva Prewein, 26, and Anastasia Lopez, 19, were recently booted out of Prückel for daring to kiss each other on the premises. Such behaviour “belongs in a brothel and not in a traditional coffee house”, fumed Christl Sedlar, the 60-year-old manager, before ordering the lesbian couple to leave. “I don’t like petting in my café, I don’t care who is cuddling who,” she told the city’s Kurier newspaper. Ms Lopez said she was “stunned” by the way they were treated.

Austria hit the headlines at the start of the millennium after it formed a government with the far-right Freedom Party, headed by the famously gay and now dead Jörg Haider. But, up until 1971, having a gay relationship could result in jail. Gay marriage is banned and gay couples are not permitted to adopt children. The campaign group To Russia with Love Austria is planning a peaceful “kiss protest” outside Café Prückel for this Friday. So far, 1,850 people are set to take part.

Enter URL:

Most Shared
Most Viewed
Most Commented

Have you tried new the Independent Digital Edition apps?

Independent Dating

Show Me

Between: and

Location:

By clicking 'Search' you
are agreeing to our
Terms of Use.

Recruitment Genius: New Business Client Manager - OTE £35,000

£18000 - £35000 per annum: Recruitment Genius: This global technology company ...

Recruitment Genius: Account Manager - Telecoms - OTE £23,000

£20000 - £23000 per annum: Recruitment Genius: An exciting opportunity has bec...

Recruitment Genius: Front of House Team Member

£18000 per annum: Recruitment Genius: This strategic outsourcing and energy se...

Recruitment Genius: IT Support Engineer

£18000 - £26000 per annum: Recruitment Genius: This is an opportunity for an I...

Turkey-Kurdish conflict: Obama's deal with Ankara is a betrayal of Syrian Kurds and may not even weaken Isis

US betrayal of old ally brings limited reward

Since the accord, the Turks have only waged war on Kurds while no US bomber has used Incirlik airbase, says Patrick Cockburn

VIPs gather for opening of second Suez Canal - but doubts linger over security

'A gift from Egypt to the rest of the world'

VIPs gather for opening of second Suez Canal - but is it really needed?

Jeremy Corbyn dresses abysmally. That's a great thing because it's genuine

Fashion editor, Alexander Fury, applauds a man who clearly has more important things on his mind

The male menopause and intimations of mortality

Aches, pains and an inkling of mortality

So the male menopause is real, they say, but what would the Victorians, 'old' at 30, think of that, asks DJ Taylor

'How can I possibly be on the list with these writers I have idolised?'

Man Booker Prize nominee Anna Smaill on the rise of Kiwi lit

Bettany Hughes interview

The historian on how Socrates would have solved Greece's problems

Art of the state

Pyongyang propaganda posters to be exhibited in China

Mildreds and Vanilla Black have given vegetarian food a makeover in new cookbooks

Vegetarian food gets a makeover

Long-time vegetarian Holly Williams tries to recreate some of the inventive recipes in Mildreds and Vanilla Black's new cookbooks

The haunting of Shirley Jackson

Was the gothic author's life really as bleak as her fiction?

Bill Granger recipes: Heading off on holiday? Try out our chef's seaside-inspired dishes...

Bill Granger's seaside-inspired recipes

These dishes are so easy to make, our chef is almost embarrassed to call them recipes

Tourists are limp, leaderless and distinctly UnAustralian

A woefully out-of-form Michael Clarke embodies his team's fragile Ashes campaign, says Michael Calvin

Andrew Grice: Inside Westminster

Blairites be warned, this could be the moment Labour turns into Syriza

The mystery of Britain's worst naval disaster is finally solved - 271 years later

Exclusive: David Keys reveals the research that finally explains why HMS Victory went down with the loss of 1,100 lives

Survivors of the Nagasaki atomic bomb attack: Japan must not abandon its post-war pacifism

'I saw people so injured you couldn't tell if they were dead or alive'

Nagasaki survivors on why Japan must not abandon its post-war pacifism

Jon Stewart: The voice of Democrats who felt Obama had failed to deliver on his 'Yes We Can' slogan, and the voter he tried hardest to keep onside

The voter Obama tried hardest to keep onside

Outgoing The Daily Show host, Jon Stewart, became the voice of Democrats who felt the President had failed to deliver on his ‘Yes We Can’ slogan. Tim Walker charts the ups and downs of their 10-year relationship on screen