A government falls, a lesbian prime minister steps up
Iceland's government falls in the financial crisis. That same day, the name of the first lesbian head of government comes up.
On 26 January 2009, the government of Prime Minister Geir Haarde collapsed in Reykjavík. Since October, the financial crisis had shaken Iceland: the big banks had collapsed, the króna was in free fall, and the International Monetary Fund had to step in. Week after week, thousands gathered outside parliament, and some rallies turned into riots. That Monday, it was over. The coalition with the Social Democrats had come to an end.
That same day, a name came up that made people abroad sit up. The leader of the Social Democrats, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, proposed Social Affairs Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir as the next head of government. The 66-year-old had sat in the Althing since 1978. She had started her career as a flight attendant and trade unionist, and was considered the most popular politician in the country.
She also lived openly with a woman, the writer Jónína Leósdóttir. For foreign media, that was the real news. For the first time, an openly homosexual person was about to lead a government. In Norway, the gay finance minister Per-Kristian Foss had briefly taken over government business in 2002, but only as a deputy while the prime minister and foreign minister were abroad.
In Iceland itself, her private life hardly played a role. The question was who would lead the country out of the crisis. On 1 February 2009, Jóhanna was sworn in as the first woman to head an Icelandic government. The British LGBT organisation Stonewall spoke of a milestone. What mattered was that young people saw that every path was open to them.
The interim solution turned into more than four years. Her coalition won the elections in April, and Jóhanna remained in office until 2013.