Iceland: Newest gay vacation destination?

On Saturday, Jan. 31, Iceland inaugurated “the world’s first openly gay female head of government.” Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, a lesbian, is now the nation’s Prime Minister. Predictably, Sigurðardóttir’s appointment set off a wave of excited coverage in the gay (and mainstream) press. But today, “Bladewire,” the Washington Blade‘s news aggregator, picked up a follow-up story on the Prime Minister: “Iceland PM Wants Nation to Join EU.”

The CNN story details Sigurðardóttir’s intentions to seek EU membership and convert the country’s currency to the Euro. The piece then proceeds to delve into the nitty-gritty of Iceland’s financial crisis and political turmoil following a devastating economic collapse last August.

None of this has anything to do with Sigurðardóttir being a lesbian. Granted: Her historic appointment was only made official a week ago, and she’s an interesting person to watch for a number of reasons. But at what point will general Icelandic news lose its luster with the American gay press? Is Iceland the gay country now, because its PM is gay? Are we going to be fed a lot of thought pieces about why such-and-such move of Sigurðardóttir’s—-which we’d never pay attention to otherwise—-ties back to her lesbian identity? Will we see the American gay community transform into a highly informed expert on the minutiae of Icelandic politics for the remainder of Sigurðardóttir’s tenure? Or will the gay papers soon move on to another international darling?

Photo by Gunna.