Iceland's New Prime Minister

＜English＞

2009 February 5

Hello, chief editor Yuki here...

I'm sure you've heard the incredible news!

Just a few days ago, on February 1st, Iceland appointed Johanna Sigurdardottir (former Minister of Social Affairs) from the Social Democratic Alliance as its newest prime minister. Sigurdardottir is Iceland's first female prime minister - and openly gay. The 66 year-old veteran politician has two adult sons from a previous marriage and currently lives together with her civil partner, a journalist and playwright. Just on the heels of America's first African-American president, the world now has its first openly gay head of state; And a lesbian at that!　

Here at Tokyo Wrestling we're as happy as we could be; we're ready to pop a bottle of our best champagne to celebrate! Right along with all the continuous streams of recent lesbian news, this impresses us once again with the feeling that the times we live in are indeed changing dramatically with each new day.

Also, the fact that politicians within Iceland's government have demonstrated open and unshakably modern attitudes with regard to the news has been additionally encouraging. One such inspiriting example can be read in BBC's international coverage, where the Social Democratic Alliance general secretary flatly responds to questions with, "I don't think her sexual orientation matters".

Recently France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Denmark, and other European countries have begun to establish partnership systems for same-sex couples, while the gay mayors of Paris and Berlin have also become widely-recognized in global news. Furthermore, most everyone knows the daughter of former US Vice-President Dick Cheney is an out lesbian who has conceived a child through artificial insemination. The number of LGBTs in politics around the world is certainly too great to be known!

There are still many gay and lesbian people around the world unable or afraid to come out (such as here in Japan, where very few do), but over the last few years we have heard more and more about lesbians in the news - from Jodie Foster's almost full disclosure of her sexuality to the recent embroilment over same-sex marriage in California, while stars such as Lindsay Lohan and Cynthia Nixon, known for her role as Miranda in "Sex and the City" have come out about their same-sex relationships.

At Tokyo Wrestling we hold the profound hope that, as more LGBT news makes its way into the Japanese media, popular understanding of LGBT lives will be radically changed. We know that, inevitably, the stigma of sexuality felt by queer folks in Japan will lift and we will each be freer to make our place in the world just as we are.

Let this news be a reminder to us all, there is a whole world of (regular) gay and lesbian folks out there, just like us!

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