“We hope that this little initiative of ours from our little town in a remote fjord in Iceland may inspire other people and give them the hope we all need,” says Diego Ragnar Angemi, member of the group Queer Westfjords and citizen of ísafjörður, where the main square will been painted with trans flag colors.
The act, which can bee seen as a vibrant symbol of inclusion and hope, will take place on the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), on May 17th.
“The idea has been generally well received among the group, there is a shared understanding that within the LGBTQIA+ family, the Transgender community is the one that has had the harshest backlash in recent times,” says Diego Ragnar Angemi, when asked how the idea has been received.
Diego adds that when the group asked the mayor of Ísafjörður for permission and support for the new rainbow, they got immediate and unconditional support. “Which honestly made us all very happy and proud to live in this town,” he says.
The group that Diego refers to is called Queer Westfjords or Hinsegin Vestfirðir, a group of queer people living in or connected to the Westfjords, self organized through a Facebook group. According to Diego, who is a member of the group, Queer Westfjords has existed for many years now and currently has above 150 members. For the past two years they have worked on getting the idea of painting the square approved.
It’s a symbolic yet visually powerful way of getting everyone together around one community, the most marginalized one, the transgender one, and boldly say together ‘trans rights are our rights too!’
Is this the first time anything like this has been done in Ísafjörður – in regards to trans visibility?
Diego nods. “Yes. Well for the past three years we have always painted the“standard” six colors rainbow. But this year we decided to keep the six colors rainbow at the beginning and the end of the path, while in between it will morph into the colors of the transgender flag.”
However, as Diego points out, Ísafjörður itself has a history when it comes to transgender visibility.
“Just last year, cinemas around Iceland showed the Icelandic movie Ljósvíkingar (Odd Fish), which is about a trans woman (played by Arna Magnea Danks) coming out in a fishing village – and that village is Ísafjörður and the movie was filmed here,” Diego says.
“Also a few years ago, the role of Fjallkona, the Lady of the Mountain during the Icelandic National Day celebrations of June 17th, who leads the town parade and hold the official speech, was embodied by Veiga Grétarsdóttir, a trans woman and a citizen of Ísafjörður,” he recalls.
But just how did the idea behind the new trans rainbow come about?
“Well, we do live in interesting times, mildly put. In many parts of the world, LGBTQIA+ rights are going backwards and it’s pretty clear that one community in our family above all is targeted like never before: the transgender community. What is happening with trans rights in the USA, in the UK with a new discriminatory legislation just a few weeks ago, and with abuses in Iceland (recently in the news) is utterly unacceptable,” Diego says.
“That’s why this year we will use the colors of the transgender flag to repaint the rainbow in Silfurtorg, the main square of Ísafjörður.
It’s a symbolic yet visually powerful way of getting everyone together around one community, the most marginalized one, the transgender one, and boldly say together ‘trans rights are our rights too!’ .”
Now like never before we need to find hope in humanity, which seem to have taken a turn towards hate and repression.
Diego says that painting the rainbow on the main square of Ísafjörður on the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), on May 17th feels “just right”.
“Because now like never before we need to find hope in humanity, which seem to have taken a turn towards hate and repression,” he explains. “We hope that this little initiative of ours from our little town in a remote fjord in Iceland, may inspire other people and give them the hope we all need.”