????The world’s first openly gay head of government, Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir visited China with her wife, Jonina Leosdottir, this week. Her visit not only led to a free trade agreement between the two countries, but also sparked heated discussion online with notable participation of Chinese homosexuals. Iceland PM brings hope to gay Chinese ICELAND’S Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir arrived in Beijing on April 13, kicking off a five-day official tour of China. ????Sigurdardottir was warmly received by Premier Li Keqiang and signed a free trade agreement Monday, offering hope to the North Atlantic country for its recession-battered economy. ????In an interview with Xinhua on April 12, Sigurdardottir emphasized the mutually beneficial nature of the agreement: while China’s economy could offer opportunities for Icelandic exporters and service providers, the prices of Chinese products could be lowered for Icelandic consumers. ????The China-Iceland free trade pact will lower tariffs on a range of goods and is expected to boost seafood and other exports from the remote Nordic state to the world’s second-largest economy. ????Li told Sigurdardottir the agreement was “a major event in China-Iceland relations.” ????“It also signals the deepening of our relationship, especially our economic relationship which has been lifted to a new height,” Li said during talks following a formal welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in the centre of Beijing. ????Trade between China and the country of just over 315,000 people rose 21.1 percent last year to US$180 million, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. Iceland exports mostly fish to China and imports Chinese products from ships to shoes, and Sigurdardottir is keen to push Icelandic services and the island’s geothermal energy potential. ????But trade was not the only topic related to the Incelandic leader’s visit that caught the attention of the Chinese public. ????Sigurdardottir — the world’s first openly gay prime minister — and her wife were invited to coffee by a group of Chinese parents whose children are gay or lesbian. But Chinese media did not release any details related to the invitation. ????The Guangzhou-based grass-roots organization Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) that promotes LGBT rights sent the invitation to associates at foreign embassies and to some well-connected journalists. ????Ah Qiang, a worker at PFLAG China, says Sigurdardottir’s visit in itself is encouraging. ????Gay activists regard the visit by Iceland’s premier and her wife as a rare chance to bring the issue into ordinary living rooms by means of television and State media. ????Scenes of Sigurdardottir thanking Premier Li on national broadcaster CCTV’s evening news for the “friendly reception” her wife received, and pictures showing Sigurdardottir side-by-side with her playwright spouse Jonina Leosdottir, have virtually no precedent in China. ????“This visit creates a quandary for China,” said Ah Qiang. “Everyone is looking to see how the official media will cover it. They have to at least admit that this is happening.” ????While large cities have thriving gay scenes, few people are willing to be openly gay and police occasionally harass gay venues and activists. ????Social pressure is such that many gay men and women either marry people who know nothing of their partner’s true sexuality, or have heterosexual marriages only as a pretense to convey a certain image to society. ????But many gay netizens said they were surprised by the reporting on the five-day visit, including positive profiles of Sigurdardottir on State news sites such as the People’s Daily. ????“When I heard her thanking Li Keqiang for the treatment her wife received, I thought that I misheard,” commenter “K-ong-Y-ang” said on popular microblog Sina Weibo, referring to the CCTV footage, widely seen as a bellwether for official tolerance. ????“The Icelandic prime minister thanked China for treating her wife well. This banal statement reflects the tolerance of today’s China towards gays,” wrote a Weibo user in the southwestern city of Guizhou, calling himself “New home in a new era.” ????Activists said that the large volume of chatter about the upcoming visit on Weibo might have forced the government’s hand. When German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle visited China with his same-sex partner in 2010, State media largely ignored it. ????The government has largely ignored homosexuals and some social scientists say a lack of sex education in schools fuels hostile social attitudes towards gay men and women. ????“Why is it that officials welcome gay people from foreign countries with a smiling face, but are harsh on Chinese gays in their words and actions?” wrote author Cao Junshu on Weibo. ????Some said the visit could turn out to be an initial first step towards acceptance and the long road to same-sex marriage by inspiring local gays and forcing officials to face up to changing social attitudes overseas. ????“I await the day when gay couples can marry here and start families, that would be real respect,” wrote one netizen. ????Major Chinese new agencies have stayed silent on the agenda of Leosdottir, but when she paid a visit to Beijing Foreign Studies University and met students, the news spread on Weibo and was reposted by Phoenix News on its website. ????In 2006, China’s Ministry of Health estimated the number of sexually active gay males in China as between 5 and 10 million. However, Li Yinhe, a prominent sexologist and gay rights advocate in China, places the number of gays and lesbians in the country closer to 50 million. ????Johanna Sigurdardottir became Iceland’s first female prime minister and the world’s first openly gay head of government on Feb. 1, 2009. ????Her appeal has held up even as confidence in the government itself has plummeted, amid an economic crash, soaring unemployment and street protests. ????“Now we need a strong government that works with the people,” Sigurdardottir said as she began forming a new coalition after the former government resigned. ????Born in Reykjavik in 1942, Sigurdardottir studied commerce before becoming a flight attendant for Loftleidir Airlines in 1962. ????During her nine years at the airline she began a parallel career as a union organizer, and later got an office job at a packaging firm in the capital. ????Sigurdardottir was first elected to Iceland’s parliament, the Althingi, in 1978 and was given her first ministerial office — social affairs — in 1987. ????In 1994, she left government and unsuccessfully stood for the leadership of the Social Democratic Party. She then formed her own party, the National Movement, which won four parliamentary seats in the next year’s general election. ????Five years later, however, the party merged with the Social Democratic Party and two other center-left groups to form the Social Democratic Alliance (SDA), which they hoped would counter the dominance of the right-wing Independence Party. ????She has been nicknamed “Saint Johanna” in praise of her work for the rights of the handicapped, elderly and disadvantaged. ????Sigurdardottir married Porvaldur Steinar Johannesson in 1970 and the couple had two sons named Sigurdur Egill and David Steinar. After their divorce in 1987, she joined in a civil union with Jonina Leosdottir in 2002. In 2010, when same-sex marriage was legalised in Iceland, Sigurdardottir and Leosdottir changed their civil union into a marriage, thus becoming one of the first same-sex married couples in Iceland.(SD-Agencies) | 