Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.07.2011, Blaðsíða 22

Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.07.2011, Blaðsíða 22
“Ironically, however, most of the resistance he faced was from other gay men, who were scared of exposure and persecution. Others were for a long time convinced that Hörður was actually trying to start a sex club.” 22 The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 11 — 2011 From a young age, Hörður showed an aptitude for music. “We always had music in my fam- ily,” he says. “I express myself a lot through music. Where other people write in diaries, I write songs.” Even at a tender age, his passion for sticking up for the downtrodden was evident. The first song he ever com- posed, at the age of 12, was about a man living in a piano box down by Reykja- vík harbour. “There's always been this strong power in me where I don't accept unjust things,” he tells me. This would carry over into young adulthood when, at the age of 18, he was fired for suggesting that his co-workers organise a strike. Far from being a set- back, at 20 he was offered a store man- ager position at a major company. His response was to ask for a week to think about it. During this time, he came to the conclusion that retail manage- ment—as well as it would have paid— would not be for him. “I made a deci- sion never to be what I'm not: to be true to myself.” And so, to the surprise of his family and the owners of the company, he declined the offer. But Hörður had larger issues to grapple with around that time, namely his sexuality. “I knew I was gay,” he says. “I didn't have the word for it, but I just knew it. And according to many people around me, it was wrong. I was a criminal. I was told I was a paedophile. I didn't get any information about the matter, and everyone told me to be quiet about it. I knew I was gay when I was about 15. You know that you're different, but you just hide it in the beginning. I never accepted that I was some criminal, or something very wrong, but just that I was different. I was fine with being who I am. But other people weren't.” The role of the artist While considering his path in life, Hörður first turned his attention to act- ing. “I was very shy, so I decided to go into a private acting school, to learn how to, well, speak up.” Private school lead to the National Theatre's school for acting and, at 24, he graduated as an actor. Hörður, always one to have more than one iron in the fire, had contracts for two LPs at the time. He mentions this offhandedly, as if being an actor, lyricist and a signed musician went fairly naturally together. So I asked what led him into music and, specifically, how he came to be Ice- land's first troubadour. Folk music, he tells me, was pretty popular at the time, and he was drawn to it as well. But while most people were forming trios, Hörður decided specifi- cally to go solo, for largely pragmatic reasons. “I don't want to spend my time waiting for other people,” he says. “I hate it when people are late for rehears- al. So I decided I'll go on my own. And that's the way I've always worked.” And work he did, playing impas- sioned songs about life, beauty and struggle for people around the country and at parties in Reykjavík. Shortly thereafter, Hörður went to Denmark, where he came to a realisa- tion about art that would have a lasting effect on his life's work. “I came to the conclusion that the role of the artist is to speak out, to fight the misuse of power,” he tells me. “Be- ing popular is not going to be a big part of my life. That's not going to be my job and it's never been. I just follow my heart.” Also around this time, he began to see how fighting the misuse of power applied to gay rights. Discovering the gay movement in Scandinavia, he be- gan to read up on history, from Magnus Hirschfeld to F-48. And how did this apply to his everyday life? “I discovered that I could be famous and get a lot of money if I shut up about who I was, my nature. But at the same time, I'd see gay people in Reykjavík be- ing beaten up. I could not accept this.” Unbeknownst to him at the time, he would end up being the catalyst for pre- cisely the sort of change he wanted to see. The ambush In 1975, a journalist from the magazine Samuel contacted Hörður to discuss the gay scene in Reykjavík. He agreed to meet him and they spoke at length about some of the ways the gay scene operated at the time. “I thought he wanted to talk about the issue. What I didn't know is that he recorded it.” The journalist revealed that he had recorded the conversation at the end of the talk, adding the caveat that he believed Hörður had agreed to meet him out of a sexual interest. Rather than exploding into a rage or demanding the tape be burned, Hörður offered to do another interview, even more in depth than the one he had just done. The journalist accepted, but it wasn't to be—instead, the journalist went on vacation, and Samuel's editors decided to run the ambush interview. Hörður's life changed literally over- night. On the day that issue of Samuel hit the stands Hörður was busy filming a movie and he recalls that passersby were giving him strange looks on the street. It wasn't until a shop owner pointed out the interview to him that he understood why, and that's when things got ugly. “My telephone was filled with threats. But people didn't believe this when I told them. They had this at- titude that this was such a good, nice society. I was silenced, totally. The only solution for me was to move away.” Hörður once again went to Den- mark and sank into a deep depression. At 32, he decided to commit suicide. “I was determined that I was going to do this. But then I understood how deeply I would hurt my parents and family. I couldn't take that. So instead, I went out and had a beer in the middle of the day for the first time,” he says, laughing. “I celebrated life doing that.” Following his renewed love for life, he decided to take the persecution he had faced in Iceland and transform it: he would form a gay rights organisa- tion, which would come to be known as Samtökin 78. The Icelandic gay rights movement begins While today Samtökin 78 is well known for being an active and vibrant lobby, it certainly didn't start out that way. While trying to start his gay rights club, Hörður went into directing amateur theatre, and played his guitar on week- ends, although he says no one would come to the shows. Ironically, however, most of the re- sistance he faced was from other gay men, who were scared of exposure and persecution. Others were for a long time convinced that Hörður was actu- ally trying to start a sex club. Frustrated by the hesitance of oth- ers, he penned letters to every gay man he knew in Reykjavík, informing them of the f ledgling group's first meeting, in his home. “That upset most of them, because they were concerned their par- ents would open the letter. And I said, Hörður Torfason—troubadour, songwriter, actor, director and hu- man rights activist—is one of Iceland's living legends. In recent memory, he was the organising force behind the Pots and Pans Revolution of 2008–2009, and has been invited to bring his phi- losophy on activism to Spain, Mexico, and further afield. However, he also happens to be Iceland's first openly gay man. I met Hörður over lunch to talk about the trials and triumphs that brought him to where he is today.
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