Reykjavík Grapevine - 29.07.2016, Blaðsíða 8

The villain of the issue this issue is the
Merchants’ Weekend festival in the
Westman Islands. Take thousands of
people, put them on a tiny island, fill
them with alcohol, remove any sense
of accountability, and you might have
some idea what this festival can be like.
Believe us, there are many other things
going on in the first weekend of August
that won’t involve being fenced in with
drunkards itching to rape you. Don’t
get us wrong: the Westman Islands are
beautiful, and totally worth visiting
pretty much any other time of the year.
But as local police seem more concerned
with protecting the festival’s image
than they are in protecting festivalgo-
ers, it would be irresponsible to recom-
mend going. The festival is a blight on
what is otherwise an awesome holiday
season, and it’s for this reason that the
Merchants’ Weekend festival in the
Westman Islands is this issue’s villain
of the issue.
The hero of the issue this issue is for-
mer Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð
Gunnlaugsson. Here in Iceland, journal-
ists refer to the summer as the “cucum-
ber season,” which is a colloquialism
referring to summer being a very slow
news time because everyone is on vaca-
tion. Fortunately, Sigmundur Davíð—
who is still the chairperson of the Pro-
gressive Party despite resigning from
the Prime Ministership in disgrace this
spring—chose this season to not only
announce his return to politics, but to do
so with an open letter to party members
replete with the kind of patriotic and
at times contradictory bons mots that
have made his wordsmithy famous. We
at the Grapevine are extremely grateful
to Sigmundur Davíð for breathing some
much-needed comic relief into this dull
news cycle, and it’s for this reason he’s
this issue’s hero of the issue.
HERO OF
THE ISSUE
VILLAIN OF
THE ISSUEThe Simm Wild Westmans
Tolli Einarsson/Creative CommonsArt Bicnick
STRANGE
BREW
Beyond The Binary
Ugla Stefanía on trans rights in Iceland
Iceland has “fallen behind” when it
comes to legal protections for trans-
gender people, according to trans
activist Ugla Stefanía Kristjönudót-
tir Jónsdóttir. Their comments come
just ahead of the seventeenth annual
Reykjavík Pride, a week-long festival
celebrating Iceland’s LGBTQI commu-
nities that begins on August 2.
One of the main issues with the
Icelandic law is that it is focused on
the gender binary, says Ugla, who is a
board member of Trans Iceland and
the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisex-
ual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex
Youth Organization. On May 28, Ugla
spoke at TEDx Reykjavík about this
and others issues facing the trans
community in Iceland.
Bumping against the law
“Iceland was one of the most promi-
nent countries for legal rights in 2012,
but we’ve fallen swiftly behind today,”
Ugla says. In countries such as Swe-
den, Malta and Argentina, Ugla says
trans people have achieved greater
legal progress than in Iceland.
According to Ugla, Icelandic law
is focused on the medicalization of
trans people. “The pretense of you
being able to seek healthcare is that
you need to be diagnosed with gender
identity disorder,” they say. “And then
you can apply for hormones, name
changes, and so on.”
In order to receive that diagnosis
and be given access to trans-specific
health care, a trans person must first
convince a team of doctors of their
gender identity. “That is one of the
biggest problems, that you have to
prove to someone else who you are,”
Ugla says. “And the questions they ask
you and the criteria they use is very
outdated. It’s very focused on binary
categories.”
“If you’re a woman you have to ‘be a
woman,’ and if you’re a man you have
to ‘be a man,’ and if you identify out-
side of these categories you’re going
to have a harder time,” Ugla says. “So
a lot of trans people just play along.”
They also add that there is no refer-
ence to trans youth in Icelandic law,
meaning the healthcare they receive
is inconsistent and unregulated.
Accidental spokesperson
Today, Ugla is well-known as a
spokesperson for Iceland’s trans
community, but that wasn’t always
the plan: “I actually wanted to be a
private person, but there was such a
need for someone to step up,” they
say. When they came out, Ugla was the
first openly trans person in northern
Iceland, and they didn’t have many
role models to look up to. “I wanted
people to know there is someone out
there and that they could seek sup-
port,” they say.
But being the face of trans people
in Iceland comes with its own diffi-
culties, including being asked ques-
tions that are of-
ten personal or
degrading. Since
July 1, Ugla has
been blogging
for the Huffing-
ton Post, and in a
recent post they
discussed the
range of ques-
tions they receive as a trans person,
including whether or not they’ve had
genital surgery or how trans people
have sex.
“At the start, I was very naive and
just answered everything they asked
me. But some of those questions
aren’t really anyone’s business,” they
say. “And maybe they aren’t relevant!
It doesn’t change anything for trans
people whether people know if I’ve
had genital surgery or not. What would
change things is if I describe my expe-
rience for other trans people.”
Thinking beyond Pride
As a board member of Trans Iceland,
Ugla has been consulted by Reykjavík
Pride regarding programming, and
they say that overall the pride festival
in Reykjavík is inclusive of trans iden-
tities. However, at the end of their
TEDx talk, Ugla reminds the audience
that supporting trans people is about
more than just showing up at Pride
and waving a flag.
“I think people need to be aware
that this is an ongoing battle, and
people need to support us for the long
run,” they say. “Trans people may not
have access to spaces that you have
access to, so you need to make sure
that you bring up those issues when
appropriate.”
When Reykjavík Pride kicks off on
August 2, there will be a number of
trans-specific events, including the
ongoing art exhibition “Transfor-
mation” by Tora Victoria. Ugla will
be speaking at a seminar on LGBTQI
rights in a historical perspective on
August 3, and the Pride parade will
begin at Vatnsmýrarvegur at 12:00 on
August 6.
“Remember that
the real bad guy
isn’t the lady in
the head scarf, it
is the man in the
suit who tries to
make you feel
afraid of her.”
INTERVIEW
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 11 — 2016
8
Words
ISAAC
WÜRMANN
Photos
ART BICNICK