LGBT Reykjavik
Reykjavik is very proud of its LGBT community and has become quite the beacon of rainbow coloured light in the past few years.
Apart from being the first country in the world to elect an openly gay head of state, all LGBT people in Iceland enjoy the same rights as everyone else regardless of their sexual orientation, including the right to marry. Reykjavik is also home to the award winning travel service Pink Iceland - a company devoted to the travel needs of LGBT guests - and has a great number of gay-friendly hotels, bars and nightclubs.
The legal status of LGBT people in Iceland is one of the best in the world and the rights of the individual are protected in the country’s constitution, with registered partnership for same-sex couples becoming legal in 1996. In the year 2008 same-sex couples could register their partnership in church or other religious congregation as well as with a civil registrar. Iceland was the ninth country in the world to allow same-sex marriage and discrimination is prohibited by Article 65 of the Constitution, which stipulates clearly that everyone is to be equal before the law and enjoy their human rights regardless of “sex, religion, opinion, national origin, race, colour, property, birth or other status”. The rights of married same-sex couples to adopt children are in all respects the same as for heterosexual married couples, should they fulfill those conditions that apply for the adoption of children. Lesbians who are married or cohabiting have the same rights to assisted fertilization as heterosexual women who are married or cohabiting.
Reykjavík city is extremely proud of its fabulous Pride festivities, which have been putting a spectacular sparkle in the month of August ever since its first outing in the year 1999. A huge, merry and colourful flotilla parades through the centre of town followed by grand outdoor concert attended by over one hundred thousand people – lesbians and gay men, bisexuals and transgender people, friends, relatives, fellow citizens and numerous foreign visitors – all showing solidarity with the gay cause on the second weekend of August every year!