Global Gaze: Making History in South Africa and Iceland

This post was submitted by Jolly, TNG Events Editor and unofficial international affairs nerd.

With the passing of Proposition 8 and the start of a new, hopefully more LGBT-friendly, administration in the White House there has been a renewed interest and vigor in America’s movement towards full equality. And while this attention and strengthened resolve has been great for the queer community in the US, it is worthwhile to regularly turn our attention to the lives and experiences of LGBT individuals and communities throughout the world, both the remind ourselves every once and a while how good we have things here comparatively, and also to learn from the successes and failures of others throughout the international community who have already achieved those goals we’re striving for here.

With that in mind, welcome to the first of what will hopefully become a regular feature where we pause and take a moment to highlight queer stories from around the world.

And while, as with any other type of news, there are a lot of depressing stories related to international LGBT issues, we’re going to start this thing off on a positive note and highlight the achievements of Edwin Cameron in South Africa and Johanna Sigurdardottir in Iceland, both of whom are making history and breaking down barriers not only in their own countries but throughout the world.

In what turned out to be yet another example of my friends knowing me entirely too well, a buddy sent me an email last week with a link to a story in the New York Times because it reminded him of me. My interests outside of gay issues lie in international affairs in general, and all things dealing with Africa in particular. The piece in question was a profile of a South African judge named Edwin Cameron who had finally been allowed to take his place on South Africa’s highest court.

This may not sounds very newsworthy for those outside of the country, but it becomes a lot more interesting when one realizes that Cameron is an openly gay man taking on this role on a continent in which it remains more common for homosexuality to be criminalized rather than celebrated. Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that, despite sub-Saharan Africa’s association in many people’s minds with the AIDS crisis, Cameron officially becomes the first openly HIV-positive African to hold such a high position.

I have been familiar with Cameron’s work for a while, as his lecture entitled “Sexual Orientation and the Constitution: A Test Case for Human Rights,” which he gave in 1992 as an argument for including a non-discrimination clause based on sexual orientation in South Africa’s new constitution, was one of the documents I built an entire graduate thesis around and lays out in some of the clearest terms I’ve ever read why sexual minorities are worthy and in need of formal protection. Reading the piece in the Times, however, introduced me to his life, which is arguably just as interesting as his words.

Cameron’s early life vaguely resembles the plot of Andre Brink’s amazing novel, A Dry White Season (check it out if you haven’t), in that he was amongst the ranks of white South Africans who crusaded against the very apartheid system from which they tacitly benefited. It was Nelson Mandela himself, in fact, who appointed Cameron to the country’s High Court in 1994. In 1999 he made another brave and unpopular decision: he announced to the panel which would be deciding on his promotion to a higher position within the courts that “I am not dying of AIDS; I am living with AIDS.” With President Mbeki, a man Cameron has publicly clashed with over his AIDS policies, now stepping down, Cameron is finally able to take his rightful place on South Africa’s Constitutional Court, the highest tribunal in the country, after having his ascension repeatedly delayed. In doing so, he’s also helping to shatter a culture of silence and shame in a region in which such an act is desperately needed.

Making a similar impact on an even more global level, Johanna Sigurdardottir was appointed the interim Prime Minister of Iceland last week, as TNG's Ben previously reported, and in the process became the world’s first out-and-proud gay head of state.

It was a bizarre series of events which led to the former Social Affairs Secretary’s assumption of the position, which included two upper-level officials being diagnosed with cancer and several others flat out quitting and claiming the job was essentially too stressful and impossible. The initial catalyst, however, was the global economic crisis, which has devastated Iceland and thrown its government into disarray because the country’s prosperity is almost exclusively based on its financial sector.

While it’s unlikely that Sigurdardottir will stay on as Prime Minister after the country’s elections in May, as her party is fairly unpopular at the moment, the former Icelandair stewardess has the opportunity to really prove herself in the coming months. Regardless of how long she holds the position, she will endure forever as a symbol of progress (even if, as Wonkette suggests, “all it took for the gays to reach this special moment in history was for literally every straight person in Iceland to turn down the job”).

Her appointment, in a somewhat Obama-esque way, represents the achievement of something which was unthinkable just years ago. It's interesting to see how the international community will react to a world leader potentially making state visits with her partner and their children. If nothing else, her work will give future queer leaders an idea of what they're getting themselves into. Anyway, congratulations and good luck, Ms. Sigurdardottir – you certainly have your work set out for you, but I, for one, will be rooting for you.

Up next time: new steps towards equality in Sweden and Nepal, amongst other things. In the meantime, if there’s a topic which relates to international affairs and queer issues you’d like to see discussed, leave your suggestions in the comments section or email them to me!