OPINION “I’m sad but I’m not shocked at all.” Jonathan Duffy writes about attacks members of the queer community in Iceland have been receiving.
I no longer live in Iceland. I left over a year ago, but when I heard about the recent personal attacks members of the queer community had been receiving it made me incredibly sad. The reason it made me so sad is that when I think of Iceland, I think of a place where in my mind ‘This sort of thing isn’t supposed to happen.’
If you’re not familiar with the story, recently a number of people (predominantly from the queer and disabled communities) in Iceland have been harrased on social media and received calls that threaten them with violence.
The threats don’t appear to be random and are allegedly coming from a group that has named themselves ‘Hommabanasveitin.’ If you don’t speak Icelandic, this basically translates to ‘Gay Killing Squad.’
I know just as much as anyone that Iceland isn’t some sort of queer utopia. It’s not a place without homophobia, it’s not a magical land that doesn’t have any problems at all; however, as someone who now lives in Paris, for me Iceland was a place where I rarely felt afraid to simply exist in public.
If we take a moment to think about what has happened here, the people receiving these threats are simply existing. Their act of existence incites so much rage in some individuals that they are being threatened. The ones calling themselves the ‘Gay Killing Squad’ don’t appear to be some faceless bots or internet trolls, they’re living breathing people who live in Iceland. They’re locals, just like you.
In my own opinion, I think there’s something quite special about Iceland’s small population. Most people know someone who’s different to them. Most people have met a queer person at some point in their life, so they’re not just an idea or a character they’ve seen in movies or on TV, they’re flesh and blood humans.
“Just because you’re not seeing people being beaten in the streets doesn’t mean there aren’t injustices happening everyday.”
I spoke to some friends in Iceland about what happened before writing this and many of them were shocked. They expressed their disgust that this could happen in 2021. They were totally floored at how this is happening in such a progressive country. Some of them asked me if I was shocked, and I simply said ‘No, not really, I’m sad but I’m not shocked at all.’
You see, although I too think that ‘This sort of thing isn’t supposed to happen in Iceland’ I do know that it indeed does.
This brings me to an important point. Although there is marriage equality, although I myself felt safe as a cis white gay man in Iceland, it’s not the same for everyone. Homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, racism, ableism and all kinds of other things still exist everywhere. There are still things we could do to make things better and to help the world be more inclusive and safe for people who don’t have the same privileges as us and this is why there are people who work tirelessly to insight change and make things happen.
Just because you’re not seeing people being beaten in the streets doesn’t mean there aren’t injustices happening everyday. Yes Iceland has kicked some incredible goals for equality, but it’s not done, it’s not finished.
Be shocked, be outraged, but please also be inspired to do something or learn more about what life is actually like for those different from yourself. We can all do better.