First Openly LGBT Head of Government

Johanna Siguroardottir, former Minister of Social Policy, has been tapped to get the job of Prime Minister of Iceland, taking over a bankrupt and quickly falling apart government. Reports are that she was the most popular minister left in the government, making her the most obvious replacement for the outgoing PM.

Johanna Siguroardottir, 66, a member of the Icelandic Parliament since 1978, was designated Tuesday by leaders of Iceland’s Social Democratic Alliance Party as the party’s choice for prime minister following the collapse of the country’s governing coalition Monday.

Siguroardottir, if ratified to become prime minister as expected by an interim coalition formed by the Social Democratic Alliance and other political parties, must grapple with rising unemployment and near chaos in the country’s banking system brought about by the worldwide financial crisis.

“If she is gay, that is not an issue at all,” said Olafur Sigurdsson, deputy chief of mission at the Icelandic Embassy in Washington.

“We are very liberal in that sense,” he said. “It has never been an issue for her as a politician.”

This will her make the highest ranking openly LGBT person ever (in terms of "hard power" -i I'm sure there have been a lot of LGBT of people who have some level of political power outside of their official titles, but she will be the firs one with "ran a country" behind her name... unless you count Margaret Thatcher).

And so the gay rights movement gains steam... every where else but here.