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Social/Support for Asian Lesbian, Bi, Trans WomenIceland prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir marries her partner as gay marriage legalized
Posted on June 28, 2010
Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir has married her long-time partner as a new law legalising homosexual marriages came into force. Picture: AFP / Olivier MORIN
ICELAND Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir married her long-time partner yesterday as a new law legalising homosexual marriages came into force.
Sigurdardottir, in her late 60s, formally married writer Jonina Leosdottir after the couple submitted a demand for their civil union to be transformed into a marriage, the RUV broadcaster said.
Iceland’s parliament on June 12 unanimously adopted legislation allowing gay marriage, in a law that came into effect on Sunday.
Homosexual couples could previously enter into a civil partnership and benefit from the same rights as heterosexual couples, but this had not been considered a formal marriage.
Sigurdardottir, born in 1942, took power in February 2009. She has lived with Ledsdottir, who is in her 50s, for several years and the couple entered a civil union in 2002.
She is the country’s first openly gay head of government.
