A Conversation on Queer Memory and Cruising in Öskjuhlíð
Öskjuhlíð is a well-known outdoor wooded area very close to the centre of Iceland’s capital Reykjavík. It’s a unique space because it offers the feeling of a forest very close to the city. Nestled in the hill that sits below the dome of Perlan, this area is a popular place for hikers, LARPERS and anyone who wants a little bit of a nature escape without the need to travel too far.
For many queer Icelanders, in the past, places like Öskjuhlíð weren’t just wooded hills, they were quiet lifelines. In a time before Grindr, before Pride parades, even before Reykjavík had its first gay bar, men found each other through glances, walks, and word of mouth. If you ask the right people, they will tell you that this hill isn’t just a nature reserve; for a long time it was the best cruising area (if not the only one) for men in Iceland.
On May 2nd this year, a radio special aired on the Icelandic Broadcaster Rás1. The special was called Hommarnir í Öskjuhlíð (the Gays of Öskjuhlíð). In this special, Icelandic queer activist and educator, Svenni Sampstead interviewed local queer elders Sveinn Kjartansson and Þorvaldur Kristinsson about the rumours and history of this unassuming area which has meant a lot to the community in the past.
GayIceland recently chatted with Svenni to find out more about this project and this particular place. What unfolds is not just a story about cruising, but about friendship, survival, and the power of hidden spaces.
GayIceland: How did the idea for the radio show come about?
Svenni: “I’ve always been interested in history; specifically queer history. One of the main questions I’ve always wanted to get the answer to was, “how did men meet each other before the internet and before apps?” Last year I was on a trip to Flateyri for winter pride with Samtökin ‘78 (The National Queer Organisation of Iceland). On that long trip I asked the older people questions about this.
Sveinn Kjartansson who’s on the board of S’78 told me he used ‘Spartacus’ to meet people both in Iceland and abroad. I had never heard of Spartacus before and he told me to google it, so I did and was amazed to find out something like this existed.1
A few months later the opportunity came up to produce a radio show and I needed to find an idea to pitch. I decided to focus on Öskjuhlíð because I had been hearing rumours for years about gay cruising in that area and I wanted to know what exactly was true about it. So I contacted Sveinn and also Þorvaldur Kristinsson (the former chair of S’78), and I just asked them honestly to tell me about it. I thought this was a great opportunity to get something put to tape. The great thing about this story is that the first cruisers of Öskjuhíð are still alive, so I wanted to get their stories before they are lost.”
GayIceland: In the show, you ask how men connected before the internet. What kinds of stories stood out to you most?
Svenni: “The biggest thing that stood out for me was the sense of community back then. I mean when people talk about a cruising area, of course they talk about sex and the general public has a lot of interest in the sex of gay men and queer people, but they don’t really focus on the beautiful aspects. The nice things. Like the fact that people also met in this area to make friends. It was a safe space for them where they could be themselves. As one of the guys said in the interview, it was like “The trees held you and kept you safe from the prejudice of the world.
Also, queer people from the countryside used to call Samtökin 78 to find out where they could meet other queer people when going abroad; or people would also be able to come into the Samtökin office to photocopy the latest Spartacus guide so they could find out where to meet people on their travels. The information was really specific too. One guy told me that he had a copy of Spartacus, went to America and, using the instructions, went to a parking lot number 3, walked into the bathroom and two stalls to the right was a cruising spot.
When people talk about a cruising area, of course they talk about sex and the general public has a lot of interest in the sex of gay men and queer people, but they don’t really focus on the beautiful aspects. The nice things. Like the fact that people also met in this area to make friends.
There were so many stories. Too many to fit into a small radio program. One thing I really loved was just getting a scope of how much effort went into creating, maintaining and making queer spaces available to people. I think that’s something younger generations could learn a lot about today.”
GayIceland: Öskjuhlíð comes up again and again as a key meeting place. Why do you think it became so important to the community?
Svenni: “I think because it’s quite central in Reykjavík. It’s a nice spot, there are lots of secluded areas. It’s quite a historical place too, you can even go into a WW2 bunker if you want. It was a big area where they could meet and have privacy. In fact one of the guys I spoke to told me about walking on the old heating duct (hitaveitustokkur) which was free of ice and went all the way to Öskjuhlíð.”
GayIceland: How did men manage to connect and protect their privacy in such a small society?
Svenni: “They told me that there was a rock on top of a hill. They said when the trees were “43 years shorter,” they were only at shoulder height. So if you stood on top of the rock you could see all the heads of the guys in the area and that way you could move to where they were. The rock was basically like the Grindr of the time.
Then there was sort of like a courting dance. The kind of thing you could imagine in a David Attenborough film; like when birds are performing a mating dance. The men would look someone in the eyes, walk past them, do a double take and if it was mutual, they could go find a place to have fun.
Some of the people who cruised the area were activists so privacy wasn’t an issue; but not all of them were so there was a bit of secrecy about it all. Sveinn actually told me that he found out about the place because of a tourist. It was the early 80s and he was heading downtown through the heated paths and was stopped by a Turkish tourist who was carrying a Spartacus guide and asked for directions to Öskjuhlíð. So Sveinn went with the tourist to the forest and that was his introduction to both the Spartacus guide and cruising.”
GayIceland: In 1992, Öskjuhlíð was named publicly as a meeting place for gay men in an article in Helgarpósturinn by Þóra Kristín Ásgeirsdóttir. This was the first time this place had been talked about in the media. How did the community react to that?
Svenni: “Þorvaldur described this moment as a blow, like a bit of a hit to the secrecy of the community at the time. They didn’t really like it to begin with. They felt, at the time, that it exposed them a bit too much. Looking back on it now he feels differently. Now he feels that the journalist (who is also queer), was just a bit ahead of them. At the time it was a bit of a shock for them for it to be named, but when he reflects now, he thinks that the community was actually ready for it.”
GayIceland: From your conversations, what do you think has changed for queer people since those days?
Svenni: “In my experience, I feel that the sense of community is much stronger in the older generations. You can see that easily today. S’78 have created spaces for queer people who are 60+ to get together and you can just see the sense of community with them.
Maybe as the rights of queer people have improved, they are now more likely to stay with their childhood friends because they haven’t been forced to go create a new community. A lot of the big rights issues had changed dramatically for people like me as we were coming up and coming out.
For someone like me who is 30 and grew up in Iceland, I didn’t really grow up during the AIDS crisis; so it wasn’t as prevalent in my life. There wasn’t as much a need to go out and find people like me just to survive which is great, but there’s a coldness that has come from the dating apps. Sometimes I feel like people might need more community and more depth in their relationships with people; especially after times like coming out. I think it’s a bit sad that the older generations had way more of this than we do. They had more interactions face to face rather than just a conversation through an app where you can block someone the second they disagree with you.”
Sometimes I feel like people might need more community and more depth in their relationships with people; especially after times like coming out. I think it’s a bit sad that the older generations had way more of this than we do.
GayIceland: Do you see dating apps as helping or hurting queer spaces today? Or just changing how they look?
Svenni: “I would say social media in general is hurting communities. Take for example; I’ve been watching a lot of movies from the early 2000s. In those movies, people often make a suggestion of meeting at a pub or a restaurant. Back then they made an effort to go physically see people, because it was the only way they could have relationships. Nowadays, you have so many very specific online spaces for people that cater to individual needs; places like reddit. Since they have their individual needs met, they no longer go to more general places, or they don’t go as often, so they don’t really see who else is out there in the community.
I think social media and the apps are great and they serve a purpose, but I also think we’re ready for something new, something that allows this but also encourages a sense of community. There are people who love apps and social media, and those who don’t but it would be great to have a third alternative; but honestly at the moment I don’t really know what that would look like.But I think events like Hamingjuhlaupið (The Happiness Run) is a good place to start.”
It would seem that although the tools of connection have changed, the desire behind them hasn’t. Whether through a furtive glance in Öskjuhlíð or a swipe on an app, the queer instinct to seek out kinship remains constant. This conversation is a reminder of where we’ve come from and a quiet call to think about what kind of spaces we want to build next.
If you would like to hear the entire radio program in Icelandic, click HERE.
At this time there is no official translation of this radio show in English, but if it does become available in the future, GayIceland will notify readers.