Iceland Swears in Gay Prime Minister

I mentioned the other day that Iceland looked to be on the verge of electing the world's first out lesbian prime minister. That possibility has now become a reality with the swearing in of Johanna Sigurdardottir (at left). She will be an interim prime minister at least for now pending elections later in the spring. What is most remarkable - at least from this country where one can just imagine the conniption fits that would erupt if an out gay or lesbian were selected as president - is that the fact that Sigurdardottir's sexual orientation is a non-story in Iceland. Here are highlights from the New York Times:

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The new prime minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir, 66, will lead a caretaker coalition government of Iceland’s Social Democrats and its Left-Green Movement for three months until a new election, expected on April 25. A political veteran who has served for long periods as social affairs minister, she also appears to be the modern world’s first openly gay head of government.

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Last week, the government collapsed with the resignation of Prime Minister Geir Haarde, whose Independence Party, a conservative group, had enjoyed wide popularity on the back of the prosperity generated by a boom in financial services that saw Iceland’s once-conservative banks emerge as edgy, risk-taking players in international markets. The boom owed much to laissez-faire regulatory policies of the government and the central bank, led by another former prime minister, David Oddsson. Many Icelanders now blame Mr. Oddsson and Mr. Haarde for their plight.

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Ms. Sigurdardottir comes to the prime minister’s job with a formidable reputation. As social affairs minister in several governments since 1987, she is credited with pushing through policies that widened housing opportunities for Iceland’s poor and strengthened the social welfare system. She has said she will use her powers as prime minister to push for debt relief for the most vulnerable Icelanders.

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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.

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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.