Out Spotlight LXXXI

Today's Spotlight is Icelandic Prime minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (Johanna Sigurdardottir)

Sigurdardottir was born in Reykjavík Iceland and studied at the Commercial College of Iceland, a vocational high school operated by the Chamber of Commerce. After graduating with her commercial diploma in 1960, she worked as a flight attendant and as an office worker. She was active in the trade union movement from early in her professional life, presiding over the Board of the Icelandic Cabin Crew Association in 1966 and 1969 and over the Board of Svölurnar, Association of Former Stewardesses in 1975. She was also a member of the Board of the Commercial Workers' Union from 1976 to 1983.

She became involved in politics in 1978, and served as Iceland's Minister of Social Affairs and Social Security from 1987–1994 and 2007–2009. She has been a member of the Althing (Iceland's parliament) for Reykjavík constituencies, and won re-election on eight successive times.

She became Acting Prime Minister on February 1, 2009, making her Iceland's first female Prime Minister. This happened after the Independent Party leadership was ousted in January amid increasingly violent public demonstrations that blamed the conservative party for Iceland's economic ruin. She also became the world's first openly gay head of government of the modern era.

In April's special election, voters overwhelming rejected the conservative Independent Party that has been in power for 18 years in favor of Siguroardottir's Social Democrats and their partners, the Left-Greens. Confirming her position as Prime Minister.

Free from familial political connections, she is seen as a trusted ally of the people, a fact born out in her whopping 73% approval rating, making her the most popular minister in the country.

Sigurdardottir is a social democrat and Iceland's longest-serving member of Parliament. In the 1990s, when she lost a bid to head the party, she lifted her fist and declared "My time will come!" - a phrase that became a popular Icelandic expression.

Sigurdardottir was married to Þorvaldur Steinar Jóhannesson in 1970 and the couple had two sons, now adults. After her divorce, she met Icelandic playwright and author Jónína Leósdóttir. They were married in 2002.

While the rest of the world looked on in awe as a lesbian prepared to take over the reins of a country, Icelanders appeared nonchalant. The fight for gay and lesbian equality in Iceland is all but won. The tiny country (pop. 32,000) established civil unions, which include provisions for adoption, for gay and lesbian couples in 1996.

“Being gay is not an issue in Iceland,” Frosti Jónsson, chairman of Iceland's gay and lesbian association, told Time magazine. “There are so many openly gay prominent figures in the public and private sector here that it doesn't affect who we select for our highest offices. Our minds are focused on what counts, which is the current situation in the country.”