Remarks made by singer Páll Óskar during Gay Pride celebrations have been spreading like wildfire across Iceland.
As many of our readers are no doubt aware, Gay Pride took place here last weekend. By all accounts the turn-out was tremendous, with some 100,000 people – about a third of the country – taking part in the festivities.
Singer Páll Óskar, never one to mince words, had a few things to say to RÚV on the subject:
“I feel that the Gay Pride festival has long gone beyond just some celebration for the human rights of gay people. This is a festival for all those who have an interest in basic human rights. All those who have grown tired of hatred and harassment – on the internet, in all the disgusting comments that are possible to say about a minority. It is entirely possible that the only person who gets any peace in this world is a white, straight, right-wing man in a suit who has money. And sometimes this man has a Bible in one hand and a gun in the other. Everyone else can get called names. ‘Damned feminists, damned hags, damned gays, and blah blah blah.’ And so I say, out with sexism, out with discrimination, out with classism. We all have to sit at the same table. This is what this day is for. We have to do this once a year. We cannot let our guard down.”
In related news, CNN also covered the Gay Pride festivities, although their focus was more on Reykjavík’s mayor dressed as a woman.
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