Johanna Sigurdardottir, the openly lesbian minister of social affairs, will take over Iceland's failed government as prime minister. This after Iceland's Social Democratic Alliance Party designated her as the choice to fill the spot after Monday's collapse of the coalition government. Unfortunately for Sigurdardottir, Iceland is a mess. The country has been virtually bankrupted by the Global Financial Hobo Apocalypse and the country's unemployment has skyrocketed as foreign money washes offshore.
The Washington Blade reports that despite the country looking like it's headed for Valhalla, Icelanders support their new PM:
The Icelandic Review, a daily English-language newspaper in Iceland, reported Tuesday that a national public opinion poll conducted in December found Sigurdardottir to be the most popular minister in the country. Seventy-three percent of poll respondents indicated they were satisfied with her work, the newspaper reported.
The newspaper said Sigurdardottir also was the only one of the country's ministers — officials who head government departments or agencies — whose popularity had increased since a similar poll was taken one year earlier.
"If Sigurdaroadottir [sic] does become prime minister," the Icelandic Review reported, "she will be the first woman to serve as prime minister in the country's history and also the first openly gay prime minister in the world."
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I think you mean Ragnarok. Valhalla is paradise for warriors.
I love the writing of late on this blog.
This phrase made me laugh out loud:
Global Financial Hobo Apocalypse
Keep up the great work.
I totally agree with Alex the Sea Turtle. I am very impressed with the direction that Queerty has taken. I used to only do a cursory overview, but now find myself reading the posts and actually thinking.
The site has done a good job of balancing serious issues with light-hearted ones.
Has there ever been an openly gay leader of a country in modern history? Bankrupt or not, I think it's still incredible that Iceland has an openly lesbian prime-minister.
@JPinWeHo:
Yes, there has been. Per-Kristian Foss was an openly gay interim prime minister of Norway in 2002, interestingly of the country's conservative party. Johanna Sigurdardottir will be the first non-interim leader of a country, however.
@Greg:
First openly gay non-interim prime minister, that is.
But it is my impression she will be an interim prime-minister as well. That is, she will only lead for a brief time untill there is another election.
As far as I know, this is a first for any western nation. The UK had a purportedly gay Prime Minister, Edward Heath, but he never came out officially.
In any event, Iceland I'm sure will be one of the next countries to legalize same-sex marriage and probably Denmark before them.
And we have yet to even have a woman in charge, let alone a lesbian.