Iceland's New Lesbian Prime Minister

[Deftscythe]

First gay premier takes helm in Iceland - CNN.com

(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.

Johanna Sigurdardottir, 66, will lead the government when it is sworn in at 6 p.m. (1 p.m. Eastern) on Sunday, her political advisor Hrannar Arnarsson told CNN via e-mail.

A former flight attendant who entered politics via the union movement, Sigurdardottir was minister of social affairs and social security in the outgoing Cabinet, which resigned Monday.

Iceland has been in political turmoil since October, when its currency, stock market and leading banks collapsed amid the global financial crisis. The island nation's Nordic neighbors sent billions of dollars to prop up the economy, as did the International Monetary Fund in its first intervention to support a Western European democracy in decades.

But weekly demonstrations -- some verging on riots -- finally forced Prime Minister Geir Haarde and his coalition to resign en masse on January 26.

The country's president turned to the Social Democratic Alliance party to form a new government, and they selected Sigurdardottir to lead it.

She has been a member of Iceland's Parliament for 30 years, and was in her second stint as minister of social affairs. She started her career as a flight attendant for the airline that became IcelandAir. She was active in the flight attendants' labor union during her 11 years with the airline, according to her official resume.

She briefly led her own political party, which merged with other center-left parties to form the Alliance party.

Sigurdardottir would become Iceland's first female prime minister, although not the North Atlantic nation's first female head of state -- Vigdis Finnbogadottir became its fourth president in 1980.

Sigurdardottir lists author and playwright Jonina Leosdottir, 54, as her spouse on her ministry Web site. She has two children from an earlier marriage.

Her prime ministership may be short-lived. The government she is forming is only due to last until the next elections, which must take place by May and could be held in April.

But a leading British gay and lesbian rights group welcomed her appointment as a milestone.

"It really does matter. It is helpful" to have an openly gay prime minister, said Gary Nunn, a spokesperson for Stonewall UK. "We are trying to foster the ambition that young people can be anything they want to be."

After the gay marriage debacle during our own elections, I'm very pleased to see this kind of progress even if it's in Iceland and this woman's term will be short-lived. I suppose when your country's economy is collapsing around you, who's fucking who doesn't seem so importa... oh wait.

[Lavik]

thats cool
at least people are growing up somewhere

did the imf money come with shitty add-ons that demand iceland becomes hardcore deregulated? >.>

[Senji]

dead links

[The_OG_Nelta]

Do not want.

[archibaldcrane]

Do not want.

For being 66, she's hanging in there.

[Rhinox]

For being 66, she's hanging in there.

Indeed

[Deftscythe]

I've just heard that much like our own president, Ms. Sigurdardottir wants to invest in infrastructure to stimulate the economy. I understand she's going to begin investing in all of Icelands aging dikes.

[Rhinox]

well played sir.

[Vandole]

( '3')b

[Skjie]

I've just heard that much like our own president, Ms. Sigurdardottir wants to invest in infrastructure to stimulate the economy. I understand she's going to begin investing in all of Icelands aging dikes.

I'm not going to lie, I lolled.

[Kuya]

Talk about liberal street cred.