Reykjavik Gay Pride-August 7 - 10 | HighMatch.com

Reykjavik Gay Pride-August 7 - 10

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About Reykjavik Gay Pride

The Gay Pride festivities in Reykjavík, organized by the board and pride committee of the organization, have been a marvellous success since 1999. A huge, merry and colourful Gay Parade through the centre of town and a grand outdoor concert attended by over seventy thousand people - lesbians and gay men, bisexuals and transgender people, friends, relatives, fellow citizens and numerous foreign visitors - showing solidarity with the gay cause on the second weekend of August.

The Reykjavik Gay Pride always takes place around the second weekend of August. This year (2008) it starts Thursday the 7th. The famous Opening Ceremony is at Háskólabíó Theater, Thursday August 7th. The Parade starts at Hlemmur Bus station at 2 PM on Saturday 9th and goes down main shopping street Laugavegur to an outdoor concert in the city center.

August is the busiest tourist month in Reykjavik and usually it is hard to find a hotel room in the city weeks and even months before the Pride. Those who are planning a visit are urged to make a hotel reservation sooner than later. See www.visitreykjavik.is for list of guesthouses and hotels. We reccomend: www.roomwithaview.is and www.icelandairhotels.is

The gay rights campaign in Iceland has a history of thirte years (since 1978). A chronicle of a strugle and victory almost unique in the world. From being an invisible group of an oppressed minority, the lesbians and gay men in Iceland have now gained social and legal rights which is comparable to the best of its kind in the world. This is clearly reflected in our festivities - a true manifestation of our pride and ambitions.

We are pleased to welcome you to our festivities, to Reykjavik Gay Pride. We emphazise that gay solidarity can only be realized universally. Thank you for joining us - thank you for adding your own special touch of colour to the rainbow shining in Reykjavík and in our hearts on a joyful weekend.

Reykjavik Gay Pride

Homosexuality and the Law - Fragments of Icelandic History

1869: The first comprehensive penal code came into effect in Iceland, based on a Danish model. Among its provisions was the criminalisation of sexual intercourse between two individuals of the same sex, irrespective of age or consent. Clause §178, which covered sexual relations between two individuals of the same sex as well as intercourse with animals, was worded as follows: “Unnatural forms of sexual intercourse are punishable by a term in prison.”

The adoption of this legislation marked the abolition of the Danish penal code which had been in force in Iceland from 1838 to 1869, and which had in its turn superseded the Great Edict (1565-1838), a puritanical ethical code which prescribed harsh punishments for sexual misdemeanours.

1924: Following the adoption of the 1869 penal code, prison sentences were handed out almost every year for indecent conduct, though after 1900 the number of convictions fell. Published sources do not record the nature of these crimes against public decency.

However, it is recorded that in 1924 Guðmundur Sigurjónsson Hofdal was sentenced by the Reykjavík District Court to eight months in prison for breach of clause §178 of the penal code.

Mr. Hofdal, a renowned sportsman and wrestling champion, who had taken part in the 1908 Olympics, freely admitted in court to having had “carnal relations with other men” over the previous 15-18 years. He was granted a royal pardon on 8 August 1935, five years after the abolition of a comparable clause in the Danish law.

The Hofdal sentence was presumably the only one of its kind in the twentieth century.

1940: The Althing (Icelandic parliament) abolished the provision in the law which ruled that sexual intercourse between two individuals of the same sex, irrespective of age or consent, was a criminal offence. The clause stipulating that “Unnatural forms of sexual intercourse are punishable by a term in prison” now became a thing of the past. Iceland was only the second Nordic country to decriminalise same-sex intercourse, irrespective of age or consent.

Denmark had abolished a comparable clause in 1930, Sweden was to do so in 1944, Finland in 1971 and Norway in 1972. Ireland became the last country in Western Europe to abolish a similar penalty in 1993.

1940: The Althing passed a new law (no. 19/1940) which specified age of consent in the section on Public Decency. Extra-marital sexual intercourse between a man and a woman was now legal if both parties were aged 16 or above. If the man was older and the woman younger, it was judged a criminal act on the man’s part. The same law stipulated a legal age of 18 for same-sex individuals, recommending up to three years’ imprisonment for whichever individual was older.

If it could be proved that the individual had used “the advantage of age and experience” to persuade a member of the same sex to participate in sexual intercourse, and if the younger party was aged between 18 and 21, the act was punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment. This law was used on several occasions against homosexuals and probably discouraged them from forming closer relationships with each other.

1985: A proposed parliamentary resolution on the abolition of discrimination against homosexuals was placed before the Althing. The resolution proposed that a committee should be set up to investigate the status of lesbians and gay men in Iceland and make recommendations for reform of the law.

The proposal was referred to general committee after the first debate but never got any further.

1992: A proposed parliamentary resolution on the abolition of discrimination against homosexuals was placed before the Althing. The resolution proposed that a committee should be set up to investigate the status of lesbians and gay men in Iceland and make recommendations for reform of the law. The proposal was identical to that of 1985 and was passed by the Althing in the spring of 1992. On the basis of parliament’s approval, the prime minister appointed a committee in the spring of 1993 to investigate the status of homosexuals in Iceland.

The committee completed its task in the autumn of 1994 by producing an in-depth report which provided the basis for subsequent legislation relating to homosexuals.

1992: The Althing passed a radical amendment (no. 40/1992) to the clauses in the section on public decency in the penal code of 1940, now renamed Sexual Offences. The age of consent was now set at 14 - sexual intercourse between individuals, of 14 and above, was in other words legal as long as both parties consented.

No distinction was now made between parties according to sex and all discrimination against homosexuals relating to the age of consent was thereby eliminated.

1996: The Althing passed a law recognising the registered partnership between individuals of the same sex (no. 87/1996). In the eyes of the law, registered partnership now had equal status with heterosexual marriage, with the exception that neither adoption nor in vitro fertilisation was permitted. Moreover, partnerships between same-sex couples could only be registered by a civil registrar, not by a priest.

Iceland was the fourth country in the world to pass such a law, going slightly further than its three neighbours Norway, Denmark and Sweden, which had previously legalised registered partnerships, in that the Icelandic law recognised the possibility of joint custody of children by couples in registered partnerships.

1996: The Althing passed amendments to clauses §180 and §233 of the general penal code, relating to discrimination on grounds of nationality, colour, race, religion or sex, adding the words “on grounds of sexual orientation”. This made it illegal to refuse people goods or services on account of their sexual orientation, or to attack a person or group of people publicly with mockery, defamation, abuse or threats because of their sexual orientation.

2000: The Althing passed an amendment to the law on registered partnerships, no. 87/1996. According to this, the rights of foreign nationals living in Iceland were extended to allow them to register their partnerships here, and recognition was made of the reciprocal validity of this legal act in those countries that have comparable laws. The amendment also permitted step-adoptions by this type of family, with the proviso that the partners have previously had joint custody of the children.

However, the legal provision denying women in registered partnerships the right to in vitro fertilisation is still in force; so too is the provision denying a couple in a registered partnership the right to adopt a child which is not related to either of them. In addition, the partnership between same-sex couples can only be registered in a civil ceremony, not in church. The struggle against these restrictions - and many more - remains to be fought in the near future.

2003 - 2004:

A proposed parliamentary resolution on equal rights of all unmarried or unregistered couples was placed before the Althing by all four political parties represented in the parliament. The resolution proposed that a committee should be set up to investigate and compare the legal status of gay and straight couples and make recommendations for reform of the law. Furthermore the committee is supposed to propose amendments to the law on registered partnership, regarding adoption and assisted pregnancy.

The Althing passed the resolution in March 2003.

2006: The Althing passed number of bills eliminating all discrimination against lesbians and gay men in Iceland, exsept giving legal right to religious groups to issue marrage licences to lesbians and gay men, exspected to be passed during Althing’s next session, as it is in the manifesto of the new government that took office June 2007.

The Icelandic gay movement is now focusing on the rights of transgender and intersex people, for example to be able to change information on their gender and name in the National Register, and to educate the public about the national and international history and culture of queer people.

We also see it as our duty to support queer communities around the world, that do not share our legal and social privilages, by sending letters of protest to mayors, presidents, prime ministers and other officials depressing our rights, or supporting our brothers and sisters with any other means we have in our arsinal.[/lang_en]

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 26th, 2008 and is filed under Europe, Featured Entries, Pride. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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