Community | January 27, 2009 | 21 comments

New Prime Minister of Iceland to be world's first known openly gay head of state

source: http://www.southernvoice.com/thelatest/thelatest.cfm?blog_id=23696

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Iceland’s lesbian minister of social affairs was expected to be chosen as the country’s caretaker prime minister later this week, making her the word’s first known openly gay head of state.

Johanna Siguroardottir, 66, a member of the Icelandic Parliament since 1978, was designated Tuesday by leaders of Iceland’s Social Democratic Alliance Party as the party’s choice for prime minister following the collapse of the country’s governing coalition Monday.

Siguroardottir, if ratified to become prime minister as expected by an interim coalition formed by the Social Democratic Alliance and other political parties, must grapple with rising unemployment and near chaos in the country’s banking system brought about by the worldwide financial crisis.

“If she is gay, that is not an issue at all,” said Olafur Sigurdsson, deputy chief of mission at the Icelandic Embassy in Washington.

“We are very liberal in that sense,” he said. “It has never been an issue for her as a politician.”
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