Iceland review - 2016, Page 81

78 ICELAND REVIEW ICELAND REVIEW 79
SEEKING STABILITY
The National Queer Organization has been in the limelight
of the Icelandic news this year, with its annual general meet-
ing being repeated mid-year because of unrest within the
organization, with members threatening to leave if the BDSM
Iceland society were granted membership. Finally, the dust
seemed to settle a bit in September and María Helga was elect-
ed chair of the organization at the same time as the BDSM
society was voted in. “The issue about the BDSM Iceland
society was merely the root cause of a bigger issue. When the
annual meeting was finally held, that was not the hottest topic
at all, but instead speculations about the role of the organiza-
tion and how it should operate. These are big questions that
are well worth pondering over.”
Being a democratic organization, the decision was in the
hands of members who voted on it but María Helga has
never been shy to openly support the inclusion of the BDSM
society. “I personally believe that BDSM Iceland belongs
within The National Queer Organization; it’s just an affiliate
membership which means they’ll have two representatives in
our private council, which holds biannual meetings with the
board and acts as an advisory body for all major decisions in
the organization. Those representatives have to be members
of The National Queer Organization. As it happens, there is
significant overlap between the communities we serve, so I am
quite comfortable with their inclusion,” she says and adds that
BDSM practitioners increasingly identify with being queer,
which to María Helga is understandable. “They go through a
similar process when they realize they’re perhaps not exactly
the way that society expects them to be. They deal with similar
shame for not being ‘the way you’re supposed to be,’ need to
build their self-image around it and search for answers to find
out how they can lead a healthy life and be at peace with them-
selves. So if they want to come to us for support and mutual
education, I think it’s important that we’re there to help.”
Due to the commotion and the late repeat of the annual
meeting, the next AGM is only a few months away. María
Helga’s first term will therefore only last until March. “At
this point we need to seek stability and increase unity within
the organization, so I’m not going to start a big change as
the new chair. I think the operation of The National Queer
Organization needs to be transparent and reliable and we need
to work on strengthening ties between the organization and its
members. So that’s the work ahead of me for the next months,
then we can examine our position at the next annual meeting
and take things from there.” u
P R O F I L E
The steps outside Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík junior college painted in rainbow colors in celebration of Reykjavík Pride in August.