Samtökin '78
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Samtökin '78, officially The National Queer Organization in English, is the national
queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...
organization of
Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
and
non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
dedicated to the interest and rights of
Queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...
individuals in Iceland. The organization provides
education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...
about LGBTQIA+ related matters,
counselling Counseling is the professional guidance of the individual by utilizing psychological methods especially in collecting case history data, using various techniques of the personal interview, and testing interests and aptitudes. This is a list of c ...
and legal consultation for queer people in addition to running a youth club for young people that identify as queer and hosting open houses once a week intended for queer people and their allies.


Organization

The first chairperson of the group was . As of March 2022, the chairperson of the organization was Álfur Birkir, succeeding Þorbjörg Þorvaldsdóttir. In April 2022, the organisation had four employees. As of 2020, it also had ten contractors. As of 2018, the group's executive director was . The organisation receives funding from the government for providing education, consultation, and services. In 2017, the national
government of Iceland The politics of Iceland take place in the framework of a parliamentary system, parliamentary representative democracy, representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Iceland, president is the head of state, while the prime ministe ...
granted them 6 million
Icelandic króna The króna () or krona (sometimes called Icelandic crown; currency sign, sign: kr; ISO 4217, code: ISK) is the currency of Iceland. One króna was formerly divided into 100 eyrir (plural "aurar"). Name Like the other Nordic countries, Nordic ...
(ISK). This was doubled to a grant of 12 million in 2018. They then received a grant of 15 million ISK in 2019. In 2020, it came to an agreement with the government of
Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...
to receive 8.7 million ISK annually, for three years. The organisation has a number of partnered groups that it collaborates with. These include , , Trans Ísland, , (the affiliated queer students' organization), , , and . At least some of these, such as the students' group that was founded in 1999, operated as independent subgroups within Samtökin '78.


History

Samtökin '78 - The National Organization for Lesbians and Gay Men in Iceland was founded on May 2, 1978 primarily by Hörður Torfason as a scene for the social life of gay people and the fight for gay rights in Iceland. Its name and original rulebook were inspired by that of Forbundet af 1948, a Danish organization that was also named after the year it was founded. At founding, the group had twenty members who were all men. However, a number of women joined in the first year, and the amount of
gay men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual men, bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as ''gay'' and a number of gay men also identify as ''queer''. Historic terminology for gay men has included ''Sexual inversion (sexology), in ...
and lesbians eventually became about equal. The first declaration published by the group stated, "We, lesbians and gay men in Iceland, want to share our knowledge with other homosexuals, to strengthen their understanding of themselves, and to encourage them to strengthen their self-respect. We want to increase awareness of our situation in the society at large so people will understand that we are a normal part of society. We want to enjoy the full ethical and legal rights; without
discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...
, but we don't ask for special treatment." In March 1978, the organization was denied publication of an advertisement for its meeting by the national radio service,
RÚV Ríkisútvarpið (, ; abbr. RÚV ) is Iceland's national public broadcasting, public-service broadcasting organization. Founded in 1930, it operates from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional centres around the count ...
. The group lobbied for usage of their preferred terms for "lesbians" and "gays" ("lesbíur" and "hommar"), as opposed to the derogatory phrase "kynvillingar", which meant "sexual deviants", that the radio service would have required them to use in order to publish an advertisement. The national radio service then argued that they should use "proper Icelandic" rather than language that "violates popular taste and decency" if they wished to publish an advertisement. This debate continued for years. Samtökin '78 orchestrated a campaign to bring wider visibility to gay people in Iceland, staging meetings and debates about gay and lesbian topics. Before the existence of the organization, gay people were rarely discussed in Iceland. The first public protests held by the organization took place in 1982, in Reykjavík. They were supported by gay rights organizations in other
Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...
. During the
HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
crisis in Iceland, there was a split in the organisation between some of its gay men and lesbians due to the focus on HIV-related issues at that time. A splinter group for lesbians called Íslensk Lesbíska was formed. According to Thorvaldur Kristinsson, who had been the chairperson of the organization at that time, "What happened here was, as far as I understand, somewhat opposite to what happened in the nited States where the AIDS crisis brought men and women together. The girls
ere Ere or ERE may refer to: * ''Environmental and Resource Economics'', a peer-reviewed academic journal * ERE Informatique, one of the first French video game companies * Ere language, an Austronesian language * Ebi Ere (born 1981), American-Nigeria ...
complained repeatedly about being left behind. They didn’t participate, they couldn't involve themselves in the AIDS work. They didn’t sense the fear and desperation that we did." At that time, the organization was involved with educating people on the topic of HIV/AIDS, including its own membership. In 1992 the organization allowed bisexual people to join, and in 2007 transgender people were also welcomed. Subsequently the organization changed its name to Samtökin '78 - The National Queer Organization of Iceland. Torfason left the group in 1993, and later criticised aspects of the group. The group helped to legalize gay
civil unions A civil union (also known as a Civil partnership in the United Kingdom, civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for Same-sex relationship, same-sex couples. Civi ...
in Iceland. In 1996, the group organized a celebration of the first gay couples to receive registered civil unions in the country. The event was supported by the government of Reykjavík and attended by many notable Icelandic figures such as presidential candidates, religious leaders, and celebrities. In 2010, the group granted a human rights award to the
Church of Iceland The Church of Iceland (), officially the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland (), is the State religion, national church of Iceland. The church is Christian and professes the Lutheranism, Lutheran faith. It is a member of the Lutheran World ...
after 111 religious leaders signed an article supporting gay marriage. In August 2015, the organization ran a contest called Hýryrði 2015 (Queer Words 2015) attempting to translate sixteen LGBT+ phrases into the Icelandic language. The results were announced on Icelandic Language Day. The contest has since then been held every year. In 2015, the group experienced a conflict with the Church of Iceland about whether ministers should be able to refuse to approve a gay marriage. That year, the organization held educational lectures at 29 of Iceland's schools. In 2020, they released a survey of LGBT youth reporting their experiences with harassment and assault. In June 2021, they awarded a badge to former Prime Minister of Iceland
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (; born 4 October 1942) is an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from 2009 to 2013. Elected as an MP from 1978 to 2013, she was appointed as Iceland's Minister of Social Affairs and Social ...
as the first openly gay head of government in the world. In September 2021, the group assessed each of Iceland's political parties' platforms, based on how thoroughly they addressed LGBT issues. As of 2021, the group also compiled data on suspected hate crimes in Iceland, in the absence of officially collected statistics by the national government. The group has lobbied for the government to collect this information and to create a program to prevent these incidents from occurring.


See also

* LGBT rights in Iceland


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Samtokin '78 LGBTQ political advocacy groups in Iceland Organizations established in 1978 1978 establishments in Iceland