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Well, the conservative Christian right has got to be weeping over Iceland’s newest descent into the fiery inferno of hell. The Prime Minister, an open lesbian, officially married her partner after same sex marriage was made legal. From AP:
One of her advisers, Hrannar B. Arnarsson, said Monday Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir and writer Jonina Leosdottir were officially married Sunday, the day the law came into force.
The pair has been in a registered partnership since 2002 and had applied to have it converted into a marriage under the new law. No ceremony was held.
The law was passed without a dissenting vote in Iceland’s parliament June 11.
Hooray for equality! Together let’s revisit that last line, or maybe just the part about “without a dissenting vote in Iceland’s parliament,” because that line kind of surprised me.
I don’t know a great deal about the political climate of Iceland other than the basic set up of the system, so forgive me. But as even one of our more liberal states cannot find the popular support to allow gay marriage, I am hesitant to assume that a whole country would ever get to that level of acceptance. In Iceland, the law passed without a single dissenting vote, as in not even one conservative politician wanted to use the measure to prove a point by voting against it. Really? Meaning that they had nothing to gain by opposing the law, which could imply that there is enough support within their constituencies for same sex marriage that they knew they would alienate more people than they would attract by voting against it. Or maybe people just don’t care in Iceland? As the first country to elect a gay head of state (the current prime minister), it shouldn’t be surprising that there would be no opposition to passing the law, but I can’t help but be a little shocked.
Also, as a side note, there is kind of something nice about how she didn’t have a ceremony; she merely applied for their registered partnership to become a marriage. Now, as the pinnacle of maturity that I can be, I would have probably wanted to make an elaborate, lavish show to emphasize my personal victory. But she almost didn’t need to do that. There’s something classy about how they simply wanted their relationship to become legally recognized as a marriage and didn’t need anything else. Good form, Iceland.
What do you think about Iceland? Were you surprised by their liberal social politics?
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I can’t believe there wasn’t a single dissenting vote, either. It’s just completely unfathomable to me that there were no angry conservatives to vote against it. But then, I also can’t envision the US electing a homosexual President, much as I wish I would live to see that. It makes me very happy that Iceland is so progressive, though.
[...] Iceland's Prime Minister Marries Partner As Gay Marriage is … [...]
In Canada if you vote against your party, they kick you out of it, it may just have been that they parties on a whole were for the law so the MPs had to vote with their parties.
It makes for some frustration some of the time, but we don’t have a group of haters fucking it up for everyone else like in the US.
seriously, scandinavia is nothing like the US, or the UK, or any other region for that matter. people, on the whole, are a lot more open-minded and accepting than in most other parts of the world. i am not surprised in the least that there weren’t any dissenting votes.
[...] you could merely look to the recent giant leaps in the legalization of gay marriage. Following the Iceland’s example, Argentina has legalized same-sex marriage, the first of any Latin American country. CNN describes [...]
[...] whether he’ll ever be able to come out to his parents, or if the government will allow him to marry, visit his significant other in the hospital or serve in the military? Of course not! He just [...]