1st gay premier takes helm in Iceland

[Rick336]

(CNN) -- Iceland's political parties have reached an agreement that will give the country its first female prime minister and the world its first openly gay leader.

More here ---> http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/01/iceland.pm/index.html?eref=rss_topstories




Rick

[scrupulous_stoic]

I really hope, with her experience, she can help soothe the financial crisis rocking Iceland. What a mess...

[Daniel]

http://www.towleroad.com/2009/02/lesbian-prime-m.html


The NYT: "She began her political career as a union organizer with the national airline, now known as Icelandair, where she had worked more than 30 years ago as a flight attendant. She has two sons with her former husband, a banker, and six grandchildren. Ms. Sigurdardottir established a civil partnership in 2002 with Jonina Leosdottir, 54, an author, playwright and journalist. She, too, is a divorced mother. Although Ms. Sigurdardottir’s rise has drawn widespread attention on Web sites for gay men and lesbians outside Iceland, her relationship is considered unremarkable at home. In 1940, while still a dependency of Denmark, Iceland decriminalized gay sex. It approved civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples in 1996, one of the first countries to do so. 'Iceland is a small society, and the public knows what Sigurdardottir stands for as a politician, and that’s the only thing that is important,' said Frosti Jonsson, a spokesman for Iceland’s National Association of Queers. 'Nowadays, not only does Iceland have one of the most progressive legal environments for gay people, there have also been changes in public attitudes towards gay people. It simply isn’t an issue anymore.'"

[BruceChris]

We got us a two-fer.

BC