Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.08.2005, Síða 6

Grapevine: The Gay Pride Festival
is hardly something one has to
promote anymore. It’s now the
biggest celebration in the country.
Páll Óskar: It has come a long way.
Last year there were 40,000 people.
[Novelist and playwright] Andri
Snær Magnason wrote a piece in
Fréttablaðið that we included in
our brochure this year that sums
everything up. It’s not just that
our Gay Pride has the spirit of a
carnival, it’s the spirit of fight. The
17th of June used to be like this.
(Reading from Andri Snær’s article
and paraphrasing) The Gay Pride
Festival here now bears most of the
symptoms of a national celebration:
the sense of duty, the flag, here we
have people who proudly carry the
flag and people [for whom] the flag
still has meaning.
The Gay Generation knows what
they were celebrating—they would
never dream of changing their flag
for an Og Vodafone flag.
Grapevine: Ah, yes, for tourists, a
couple of years ago Og Vodafone, a
telephone company, gave out flags
during Independence Day.
Páll Óskar: Gay Pride has no sales
tents. We’re all about the event, pure
and simple. If anything is sold, we do
it personally, only gay pride flags and
t-shirts, with the income going to a
fellowship for the next generation.
Grapevine: It is a successful event.
But I have some concerns. I covered
a drag competition last year, and one
of the contestants had been beaten
up the night before the show. Are
there incidents of violence against
gays in Iceland?
Páll Óskar: I would like to see the
rate of physical violence against gays
in Iceland. I think it is very low. I
have experienced verbal abuse. That
takes place Fridays and Saturdays
after midnight. Under the excuse
that you’re allowed to say things
when you’re drunk. But I have never
had the experience of being kicked
out of an apartment or out of a job,
as I know happened to previous
generations. Previous generations
lived in fear. They had no emotional
freedom. They really had to think
twice about coming out of the closet.
Grapevine: Is it accurate to say
that you are a member of the first
generation of accepted openly gay
Icelanders?
Páll Óskar: I am. I was born in
1970.
Grapevine: In fact, some say you’re
one of the reasons the Icelanders
accept openly gay culture.
Páll Óskar: I’m not the reason, but
yes I am one of the reasons. Me and
a handful of other brave people who
were just out there. Interestingly, I
came out of the closet in 1987, when
the AIDS epidemic was reaching
its climax in Iceland. I remember
in 1984, the first talk show about
AIDS had three panels. There were
doctors, gays and religious people.
My father said, “All these faggots
should be shipped to a desert island
and left there to die.” So I realized I
had work to do.
Grapevine: It’s hard to believe
things were ever like that. How were
you able to cope with that?
Páll Óskar: I had some
encouragement. I’m the youngest
of seven. My mother was extremely
helpful. When I told her, she said ‘If
Páll has the talent to fall in love, he
should nurture that talent. And he
has as much a right to sit down at
my table with his partner as anybody
else does with their partner.’
Grapevine: That’s the family side.
The private side. How does that
compare with something like this
parade.
Páll Óskar: Telling your parents
is coming out. I do not consider
walking down Laugavegur with a
green wig on your head and shouting
‘I’m Gay!’ to be coming out. That’s
easy.
The Gay Pride is something we
call Organized Visibility. It’s for
those who are still in the closet, still
leading a double life. Living the life
of a mole, really. While those people
still exist, this parade has to be.
Grapevine: There is a limit as to
what this does, in my opinion.
Páll Óskar: This whole festival
has only one message, if you read
between the lines: You are not done.
It’s also a way of saying thanks to
the heterosexual people who get the
picture. Because without them this
whole gay lib would not have taken
place.
Grapevine: It’s extremely successful,
and all the shops say ‘Yeah, we’re
gay friendly’ for that weekend. But I
get the impression that most people
return to the closet soon after.
Gay friends from America have
told me that they hear the ‘I’m not
advertising it,’ line about being gay
a lot.
Páll Óskar: That sounds right. I
don’t agree with them. It’s not a
question of advertising it. Straight
people have wedding rings and
children and kiss and hug in the
swimming pools. If a gay man
says that he has a problem with
advertising, then he has a problem
with his sexuality. But the gay society
has all colours. We don’t agree on
politics. Some of us love each other,
some of us hate each other.
Grapevine: If Iceland is so gay
friendly, where are the prominent
Why the Gay Pride Festival
Isn’t for Páll Óskar
A few months ago, the Reykjavík Grapevine sat down with
former Eurovision competitor Páll Óskar to get the down
low on this not-so-covertly kitsch phenomenon. This summer,
Páll Óskar stopped by the Grapevine office again to explain
how the Gay Pride Festival that he has helped organize
and figurehead, has gotten so popular in Iceland, and why
participating in the festival is only a first step.
G
úndi
gay businessmen and women? Where
is the openly gay politician? There
isn’t one gay member of parliament
that I know of.
Páll Óskar: That’s a good question.
Come to think of it, I only know of
two gay men in parliament. Neither
are out. We have yet to see the day
when an openly gay politician is
elected. But we have quite a few gay-
friendly and liberal politicians.
Grapevine: How safe is it for gay
people in this country? Is it safe, for
example, for a gay man to take a job
in a fishing boat?
Páll Óskar: I know quite a few gay
men on fishing boats personally,
and, yeah, it’s quite safe. I believe the
only place you can find prejudice is
in sports.
There’s a good article [in the Gay
Pride brochure] on the lesbian
football team of the 1980s. Many of
them were forced out of their team,
Valur. They moved over to Haukur
in Hafnarfjörður.
Grapevine: Is it as safe for a straight
woman to work anywhere in Iceland
as it is for a gay man?
Páll Óskar: I don’t know. It’s a good
question, though. I know that as a
gay man you experience verbal abuse
from your fellow workers. We have
learned not to react with a ‘Oh, the
world is so mean to me.’ If someone
is mean, it’s usually caused by not
enough information: ignorance and
fear. Never victimize yourself.
Grapevine: Even when being
verbally assaulted at work?
Páll Óskar: Yeah. We’ve come to
learn that this is caused by ignorance.
Give information. I’m a firm believer
in information as a tool. It should be
given and even promoted as it is in
Gay Pride.
Grapevine: Reading through
literature about the Icelandic gay
scene, I came across an argument
that Iceland doesn’t have gay clubs
because it is so incredibly accepting
that gays interact just like straight
people.
Páll Óskar: That’s a cute argument.
I don’t agree. The Reykjavík gay
community is always waiting for that
one man with money to appear from
the sky. It’s a social issue. We have to
socialize somewhere. Right now, the
only gay club I attend is the MSE,
the Leather Club. This is the only
bar where I can be gay, no questions
asked. Ever. I like that just as a
football fan likes going to a sports
club and watching a live broadcast of
his team with his mates.
But let’s not forget that bars and
clubs are only open two days a week.
What are you going to do the rest of
the week? Sadly, the gay community
is often dependent on the bars. It
seems some men are content with
being creatures crawling in the night.
Naturally, that’s not something I’m
happy about. How gay are you for
the rest of the week?
Grapevine: I know you spend time
on the Continent. Have you thought
about just living somewhere where
there’s a more active gay scene?
Páll Óskar: I would never leave
Reykjavík and move to a bigger city
because of the gay scene. If someone
had a great job and a great platform
to show my art maybe, but never for
the gay scene.
Grapevine: I think a few people
come out to Iceland, knowing of the
acceptance of alternative lifestyles,
and think there’s going to be a gay
scene and are disappointed when
there isn’t.
Páll Óskar: I think it’s wrong to
promote Iceland as a gay paradise.
For information on the Gay Pride
Festival, visit www.gayice.is.
An interview with one of the Gay Pride organizers
By Bart Cameron
G
úndi
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