Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.08.2014, Síða 24

24
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11 — 2014
From August 5 to 10, locals and visitors
celebrate Pride with a capital P. For six
thrilling days, the Icelandic queer com-
munity and its supporters will eagerly
come together and bask in the glow of
Reykjavík Pride, or ‘Hinsegin dagar’—
the annual celebration that has grown
to be the second largest outdoor event
in the city and represents much of Ice-
land’s modern ethos. The crowd for the
main event—the Saturday afternoon
parade—is usually estimated to be any-
where from 70,000 to 90,000 people
depending on the weather. This is a big
number for Iceland but, in fact, the mes-
sage of Pride emanating from our island
in the North Atlantic reaches even more
people worldwide. It is only appropriate,
then, to take a moment to understand
how we got to this point, what the fu-
ture of the Pride movement might look
like, and how this connects to the wider
world.
From 1993 to O.M.G!:
A Brief History of Reykjavík
Pride
This year will mark the fourteenth con-
secutive year of Reykjavík Pride. Begin-
ning in 1993, what we now call Pride
consisted only of the parade itself (if we
should even call it that, perhaps the Ice-
landic word ‘Frelsisganga’ or “Freedom
Walk” is more appropriate). With a few
brave activist souls looking for security
and tolerance in Icelandic society, the
seeds for Pride had been planted.
After two years of demonstrating,
Pride took a hiatus before coming back
fiercer than ever in 1999, on the sym-
bolic 30-year anniversary of the Stone-
wall Riots. These past fourteen years
have witnessed remarkable changes in
the way that the LGBTQIA (Lesbian,
gay, bi, trans, queer, intersex, asexu-
al) community is integrated into the
Icelandic community as a whole. Eva
María Þórarinsdóttir Lange, the Chair
of Reykjavík Pride, says one the big-
gest changes in these fourteen years is
that “we have moved past simply being
tolerated.” Following this, the parade
now looks far less like a freedom walk
and much more like “a glamorous ver-
sion of celebrating our rights,” as Eva
María describes it.
These rights, of course, didn’t come
without a fight. “We didn’t get this
for free,” Eva María reminds me. The
queer movement in Iceland is largely
represented by Samtökin ‘78, the Na-
tional Queer Organization, and has
fought for equal rights for all in Ice-
land since the year of its eponymous
founding. The ‘90s saw a big drive for
equality all around the globe on the
heels of the HIV/AIDS crisis and many
of the advancements in Iceland were
made during this time. While various
rights were fought for and won in the
Icelandic parliament, it wasn’t until as
late as 2010, however, that LGBTQIA
individuals received all the same
rights, including the ‘biggie’—same-
sex marriage—under Icelandic law.
‘The Gayest Country On
Earth?’:
Where We Stand Now
Some argue that now that we have our
rights, we should stop shouting about
them, right? WRONG! Even in a gener-
ally progressive and accepting nation
such as Iceland, Eva cautions, “we all
know there are some dissenting voices
out there and you can lose your rights if
you’re not careful.”
Although its beginnings were far
more humble, in many ways the message
of Pride thus remains the same. “Diver-
sity, culture, and human rights—these
three things sum up why we’re here,”
Eva María describes to me from the cosy
interior of Samtökin ´78. In that message,
Pride festivities have grown to include
queer and non-queer supporters alike,
notably with Reykjavík’s very own then-
mayor Jón Gnarr parading in drag, in the
hope for a more accepting and egalitar-
ian future for all. Today, Pride is often
referred to as a family festival, which has
obvious pros and cons. This type of main-
stream acceptance of the queer commu-
nity in Iceland is, perhaps, unrivalled in
the world. In fact, before moving to Ice-
land I was told by an enthusiastic fan of
Iceland that it is “the gayest country on
Earth.” However, the family-friendliness
of the parade might also be a bit restrain-
ing for those who don’t want to have to
be shy about expressing their queerness.
In its conception, Pride was established
as an event where it was okay to let your
Reykjavík has many reasons to be proud. Heck, just last issue we catalogued the gamut of
what makes Reykjavík such a groovy place to call home—including the best of everything
under our conspicuously elusive sun. But, as summer (or whatever this cold, rainy season
is called this year) presses on and the night starts to reclaim the day, the word pride carries
a rather different connotation.
There Will
Be Rainbows
Words by Michael Leonard
Photos by Alisa Kalyanova
Reykjavík | Pride
Our precious water
Hydropower stations turn the kinetic energy of falling water into electricity.
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We welcome visitors!
Búrfell Hydropower Station oFYIJCJUJPOPQFOEBJMZ
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Further info and route instructions at
www.landsvirkjun.com/visitus
*Max. water volume in gigalitres (billions of litres)
Krókur Reservoir   (M
Háganga Reservoir  (M
Blanda Reservoir  (M
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Hálslón Reservoir  (M
Sultartangi Res. 109 Gl • Kelduá Res. 60 Gl • Hrauneyjar Res. 33 Gl • Gilsá Res. 20 Gl • Spordalda Res. 25 Gl • Bjarnar Res. 5 Gl • Vatnsfell and Ufsar Res. 3 Gl