Will We Ever Find a Utopia For Queer People? A Think Piece

Translation: Íris Björk Ágústsdóttir

Today would be a good day to wake up and truly feel that each and every human being on this Earth is precious and loved. All would be welcomed with open arms. Wouldn’t that be great? Absolutely utopian. We often dream of waking up on such a morning. But daydreams about this utopia never last long, as every day brutally snaps us back to reality. Queer people have to put up with inadequate health care, mainstream media taking a stand against them, widespread humiliation, and fighting for their rights but watching helplessly as their place in society regresses. We have to watch our loved ones die completely preventable deaths. We long to live in a world without systematic violence, hatred and fear. We long to know that people close to us are safe, and that people with shared experiences as us (or not) are safe. We long to feel safe. We long for all people of the world to experience the security that we wish for ourselves and our loved ones. But there is little we can do and generally we are not taken seriously.

This think piece was originally supposed to describe a queer utopia, but once again reality got in the way. There’s a certain type of grief that follows this type of thinking, because this concept has rarely seemed as infeasible as it is now. The roots of the word utopia are a play on words; the Greek word ou-topos, which means “nowhere”. It is eerily similar to the word eu-topos, which means “a good place”. It is oxymoronic, as queer people all over the world suffer under the oppressive power of cis heteronormativity, the patriarchy, and literal fascism, feeling like they can never really find a good place. 

Iceland is under great cultural influence from the United States, and right now the US meets all the requirements of a fascist state. Nationalism, censorship, and militarism mixed in with the fact that chosen minority groups are made out to be scapegoats for all of society’s problems.

The nation is united in their hatred of queer people, people of color and the basic rights of women and people with a uterus regarding their bodily autonomy. All of the aforementioned are connected. Icelandic society is not immune from this cultural development. The other day an unnamed former prime minister of Iceland publicly claimed that the collapse of the banks was trans people’s fault. Domestic media have been encouraging this type of discourse and other topics which question trans people’s right to exist, creating a platform for people to unite in hatred. It is important to note that according to the model of genocide, the genocide of trans people is on stage seven out of ten in the US. Fascism is not upheld by evil people; it’s enabled by good people who sit idly by. Utopia can not become a reality any time soon unless good people get together and take a stance against hatred. This is feasible by informing as many people as possible about what fascism entails and how the improvement of human rights is beneficial for all. No one loses out by upholding human rights.
We as a nation often give ourselves a pat on the back for “not being like the other nations” when it comes to human rights violations. But we are not the queer paradise we make ourselves out to be. Fascism is always closer than people think. But the utopia is nowhere, just like the meaning of the word stipulates. However, the possibility of getting as close to it as we can is always an option. We can adapt our concept of ou-topos into eu-topos and say goodbye to our idea of a perfect place. Instead, we should focus on finding a good place. Nowhere could then become somewhere. We make our own miniscule utopia within the queer community. We can go there, leave our baggage at the door and forget ourselves for a bit. Put the outsiders in the limelight and take as much room as we deserve. We get room to take care of ourselves and fill ourselves with the courage we need to keep being proud of our queerness until everyone is proud of their queerness. We often dream that one day it will be obvious that none of us are free until we are all free. That the day will come where the entirety of society embarks on the journey towards a utopia for all, even though that means constantly working on it and ceaselessly defending it. What bliss it would be to wake up on that day.