The U.S. finally has its first non-white president, and it looks like Iceland will probably soon have its first non-hetero prime minister.
This just in from the Queers United blog:
“Iceland is set to become the first country to have an openly-queer head of government. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, a Social Democrat and the current Minister of Social Affairs who’s also openly lesbian, is likely to be announced as the new prime minister as the former Icelandic prime minister leaves office due to esophageal cancer.
Besides being the first lesbian prime minister in the world, she’s also the first female prime minister in Iceland.”
Unfortunately, she takes office in one of the most perilous periods in Iceland’s history. The island nation is in turmoil as it’s econmy melts down. The Icelandic Krona fell to an exchange rate of around 115 per dollar back in October. There were actual riots in the streets a few days ago, unheard of in the normally laid back country. I wish her luck and hope that she can bring some balance to the country as it moves through these tough economic times. If she can pull the country through this it will be an even greater bost for LGBT people in politics.