After intense public protests, the Icelandic conservative government folded last Monday, and a new center-left interim coalition government took office yesterday, with a view to general elections in April.
The new Prime Minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (66), is a Social Democrat and has been an MP since 1978. She is nicknamed "Saint Jóhanna" in praise of her work for the rights of the handicapped, elderly and disadvantaged, and was recently voted the most popular politician in Iceland. She is also a lesbian, and lives with journalist Jónína Leósdóttir, who became her civil partner in a ceremony in 2002. Sigurðardóttir was previously married to a man and has two sons.
I won't comment on the political or economic aspects of these proceedings - others have done so with much more insight than I have - but there is one question that I can't help wondering about. She is said to be the first openly gay or lesbian person to become a head of government, not just in Iceland, but anywhere in the world. How will the world's homophobic nations react? I'm thinking of countries like Nigeria, Gambia, Iran, and all the others that I listed in a blog post last September.
How will they react? Will there be widespread protests in the streets of Damascus, Nicaraguan boycotts of Icelandic products, and burnings of the Icelandic flag in Medina? Will Tongan diplomatic personnel be recalled from Reykjavik? Or will everyone do the sensible thing and just ignore it, perhaps hoping that someone else will be elected in a few months?
I don't have the answer, but to my knowledge, no-one's even asked the question. We'll just have to see what happens, I suppose...
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Sources and links: http://pastorbastard.blogspot.com/2009/02/diplomatic-problems-for-iceland.html
