In Iceland, It’s No Big Deal to be a Lesbian Prime Minister
I have a special fondness for Iceland, having gone there for a brief vacation back in the fall of 2001 on a trip offered by IcelandAir called “Midweek Madness.” My travel companion and I flew nonstop from Boston to Iceland in five hours and had a blast there! We went to the Blue Lagoon hot springs, we ate a sumptuous fish buffet, we walked all over Reykjavik, went to a nightclub in the city, and took a bus tour of other parts of the country.
Johanna Sigurdardottir, age 66, has been named interim prime minister of Iceland, a nation that is in a state of flux due to a financial collapse. This longtime politician, a member of the Social Democratic Alliance, is openly gay, and Icelanders could not care less. (They must be utterly perplexed watching Americans debate which couples have a right to marriage and which don’t.) Her job qualifications are foremost in Icelanders’ minds: Sigurdardottir has been a popular Social Affairs minister, and, according to a story in the BBC, in one recent Gallup poll, 73% of respondents said they were satisfied with her work. Americans can take a lesson from Icelanders’ attitudes.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:19 pm
I too have been drawn to Iceland. I’m not sure why, I don’t know much about it, & it’s cold there, I hear. But for some reason it’s in my top ten places that I want to visit. Perhaps now’s the perfect time.
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Nancy, they should could use the income. The Midweek package was just $399. It’s up a little higher now ($499?) but worth it. I went in early October. The weather varied like crazy from very cold (30s) to mild-ish (50s).
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:01 pm
When I was a kid, I had a friend who lived in Iceland when she was little because her Dad was in the Foreign Service. She learned to speak it when she was little, but she forgot it all soon after.
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:29 pm
I learned in Iceland that the language is very pure. They never adopt terms from other languages; instead, they invent their own for, say, Internet, etc.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:33 am
Do you know how/why Icelanders (proper term?) came to their more open social attitudes? There are many places in the world that the U.S. could learn something from.
Climate sounds much like what I’ve experienced in Portland, Oregon over the past couple of months. It’s a roller coaster that one adapts to!
February 4th, 2009 at 7:49 am
There is a wonderful intentional community in iceland that fully integrates people with disabilities http://www.solheimar.is/Template1.asp?Sid_NR=546&E_NR=518&VS=1VS1.asp&VT=546
The collapse of Iceland’s economy and and collapse of Argentina’s economy sever years ago should be a reminder that it can happen here.
Canada’s attitude toward homosexuality is much like Iceland’s. Gay marriage is legal here. There are a number of prominent politicians (ministers in the government) . federally and provincially, who are in a gay marriage.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:32 am
It’s hard to imagine places where the same-sex thing isn’t an issue. Thanks, Philip for the reminder about Canada. I’ve always loved Canada.
February 4th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I know a few people who have been to Iceland. I have always heard very good things about it.
February 5th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I spent about 3 hours at Reykjavik on a layover between home and Germany. I loved it and would love to go back there. Didn’t get to see much in 3 hours, obviously, but the steaming springs were very tempting. We flew over Greenland before we got there, and it was funny than Greenland was solid white and Iceland was brown (it was May).