Iceland Elects World's First Openly Gay Leader

“Our time has come!” said Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, the 66 year-old newly elected Prime Minister of Iceland, who just happens to be the world's first openly gay national elected leader. Sigurdardóttir served as PM for the last three months in an interim capacity after Iceland's government collapsed in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, which bankrupted the small island nation, which had built its economy up in recent years as a freewheeling banking haven. Her election over the weekend is not just a victory for gays and lesbians, but also for women– she is the nation's first female prime minister and Icelandic newspapers are proudly pointing out that with this election, which sent more women to the Althing than ever before, the nation now ranks 4th in the world for female participation in government. But what challenges face the world's first openly gay elected leader?

A former airline attendant who became interested in politics by way of unions, presiding on boards of various airline related trade unions before being elected to the Althing in 1978 as a Social Democrat. Much like in the U.S., Iceland has spent the last 40 years becoming increasingly conservative politically and so Sigurdardóttir found herself in the opposition party again and again. In 1994 she ran to be the leader of the party and lost, leading her to say her equivalent of "Change is coming!", "Minn tími mun koma!" ("My time will come!").

At the same time, Sigurdardóttir was discovering her own sexuality later in life. After raising two sons with her husband, the couple divorced and Sigurdardóttir began a relationship with Icelandic journalist and playwright Jónína Leósdóttir. In 2002, they were joined in a civil union.

Ingo Sigfusson of Iceland's public broadcaster, RUV told the BBC that when it comes to the Prime Minister's sexuality:

"It's by no means a big deal. It's been reported, but it's not something the public is focusing on. . . On the one hand, Iceland is a fairly liberal, tolerant country when it comes to homosexuality. On the other hand, she's never been particularly public about her private life, even though her partner is listed on the parliament's website.…Whom the new prime minister crawls into bed with at night seems to be fairly far down the list of priorities for people."