Comments on: Profile: World's first lesbian Prime Minister's slow rise to power

By: Koru

Koru — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:16:10 +0000

To K Wyon, the main obstacle in approving gay marriage was always the state church and still is – one of many reasons I am no longer a part of that church. The majority of the nation wants it, the majority of other religious organizations here want it – except our token right wing nutters no one listens to. It used to be bad, just when I was 10 years old calling someone gay was one of the worst insults you could use and many gay people would go to Denmark or other places where there was less persecution. Things just changed very very fast starting around the late 80s/early 90s, in a sense change has come very fast here since the society is so small, interconnected and in a sense isolated – it's harder to reject uncle Jon, cousins Magga, Kalli, Jolli and friends Elly and Magnus. Many people returned, though of course some had built a life abroad and stayed. My sister's coming out was, well, lets just say anticlimactic compared to what you see in tv and movies. The entire thing could have been summed up with "Really? Well, ok, just so long as you're happy. Oh and if you have a girlfriend we'd love to have her over".

The older generations can be a bit resistant, but my generation tends to not really care too much – our society changed sooo much when we were growing up. My niece's generation, it's even more of a non issue to them. Heck, they grew up with a ton of gay mainstream entertainers.

As to Jóhanna, well she's got a lot of work ahead of her. But this was the only solution. She's the only politician who has the trust of the people, and while you might consider it a poison chalice you need to consider that even if this goes badly people believe she will try to do her best for the people, not the parties. We already know that she's not going to be able to do all that she needs to because of all the damned parties playing their political games. Even if this doesn't go well, 'Saint' Jóhanna as she's sometimes known here is unlikely to lose much respect in the eyes of the nation. Her reputation and actions over the last 30 years is too consistent to be destroyed by this, while the reputation of others involved is already irreparably damaged.

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By: Mal

Mal — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 10:43:34 +0000

The economic situation in Iceland is absolutely dire. (Remember that Iceland is basically bankrput.) I wonder if Johanna Sigurdardottir has been handed a bit of a poison chalice here. If she can win the next election and turn around the country's economic she could become that nation's saviour and greatest ever leader.

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By: Per Bothner

Per Bothner — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 05:31:13 +0000

There is no "Ms. Sigurdardottir". "Sigurdardottir" just means "daughter of Sigurdar" – who is/was (presumably) the name of her father. It is correct to call her "Johanna" – it is not correct to call her just "Sigurdardottir". See Wikipedia:
Icelandic name.

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By: a pedant writes...

a pedant writes... — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:19:14 +0000

This is a really interested article, especially the bits about her rise into politics from trade unions – but I'm afraid it really badly needs sub-editing! There are spelling mistakes and it's kinda hard to read… sort it out Pink News!

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By: PCG, Germany

PCG, Germany — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:09:03 +0000

Small island? Iceland (103,000 km2/39,770 sq mi) is bigger than Scotland (78,772 km2/30,414 sq mi)….. Please get updated. However, it is true that they have a lot of people there are about 319,756 people living in Iceland. If gays move abroad, it could well be for a number of reasons, which have nothing to do with descrimination: small community (seeing the same people all the time might be boring), lack of daylight during the winter, too much daylight during the summer, too cold, etc.

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By: K Wyon

K Wyon — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 20:00:08 +0000

Well, I don't know exactly how relaxed they are about homosexuality in Iceland where, after all, civil union is not 100% recognised on par with same-sex marriage. And many Icelandic gays tend to move abroad — which I suppose is mainstreaming in a way.

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By: James Whale

James Whale — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 16:24:18 +0000

Inspiring!

Interesting also the point about how the mainstreaming of the scene seems to have had positive social effects, in Iceland at least. I've often felt the 'ghetto-isation' of gay scenes in the UK has had a detrimental effect in terms of improving understanding and social cohesion in relation to sexual orientation.

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By: zazou

zazou — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:46:16 +0000

Waou – at last !!!

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By: Ryan Haynes - fyi radio

Ryan Haynes - fyi radio — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:26:33 +0000

Bring to power a woman of influence, inspiration and intellect regardless of sexuality. She appears to have achieved so much – it's about time we celebrate real success and empowerment.

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