Hero of the Month: Iceland

There have been a number of inspiring stories this past month despite Gov. Lingle's disappointing veto in Hawaii. Let’s recap a few. We can all applaud Ted Olson’s stirring closing argument in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. Justice Ginsburg came to court the day after her husband died to read aloud her opinion in the Hastings Law School case. Against the backdrop of the World Cup, "Chosen Few," a lesbian soccer team, has shown enormous courage while confronting corrective rape and ostracism in South Africa. Vandy Beth Glenn won her federal lawsuit after losing her state job in Georgia for being transgender. And the establishment of civil partnerships in overwhelmingly Catholic Ireland was a seismic shift for that country.

Each of these stories gave me a lift. But the development that inspired me the most happened in Iceland. In case you missed it, that country’s parliament voted 49-0 to institute same-sex marriage. Johanna Sigurdardottir, Iceland’s lesbian prime minister, married her partner the next day.

In praising Iceland, I can’t help starting with Björk, my favorite Icelander and perhaps the world’s best known one. Björk sings of lesbian robots and has been quoted as saying “Personally, I think choosing between men and women is like choosing between cake and ice cream.”

Then there’s Reykyavik Pride. In a nation with a population of 320,000, about 80,000 turn out for the celebration in the capital. That’s one quarter of the country. Reykyavik Pride includes a day-long Rainbow Family Pride Festival where everyone is welcome and people without children are encouraged to “get in touch with their inner child.” Contrast that with the U.S., where LGBTs are still slandered as a threat from whom children must be protected.

When Iceland was in crisis and its economy on the brink of collapse in 2009, Icelanders turned to a lesbian prime minister to steady the ship of state without her sexuality becoming an issue. In the U.S., all things “homosexual” are still used as wedge issues to divert attention from the country’s real problems. Iceland’s sodomy laws were repealed in 1940. Here, they were only overturned six years ago, and Republicans in Texas and Montana would like to see them reinstated.

The apparent lack of controversy in Iceland surrounding LGBT rights is what I find so inspiring and hopeful. I sometimes feel resentful that we and our allies have to spend so much time, talent, money, guts, brainpower and sheer energy advocating for rights we should be able to take for granted, and I look forward to the day when we can turn our efforts to a different purpose. In the meantime, I know we must continue because who will fight for us if we do not do so ourselves?

Iceland gives us a glimpse of what we can look forward to when our rights are affirmed, not fought over. Admittedly, Iceland is a much more homogeneous society than the United States, so we may never achieve unanimity in Congress about gay issues. But I do think the day will come when being LGBT is about as controversial as being left-handed.