Queer Iceland & Rainbow(baiting) Reykjavík

Iceland in November and December? Really? I saw an Icelandair promotion on Instagram which I couldn’t resist. The catch? It had to be late November to the start of December 2022. But I could – easily – enthuse Oriol to come along for a road trip in the South and West of Iceland.

After the Blue Lagoon we headed back to Reykjavík. We had late lunched at Kringlan shopping center in the afternoon, and after checking it at Hotel Cabin we went to Mathöll Höfða food court where we had a very nice duck sandwich.

Friday would be our night out. We stayed the full Saturday as well, but our flight on Sunday was just too early. And neither Oriol or I are party animals. Plus I don’t know if you can party all night long in Reykjavík. Or if you can pay it.

But after dinner we visited Reykjavík by night. Immediately we found sex shops and Kinky.is selling harnesses. Some streets have cute artwork on the pavement. A fish, a troll-like figure, an athletics track.

Rainbow street

And of course the world famous Skólavörðustígur between Bergstaðastræti and Laugavegur. But you know it as that “Rainbow Street leading to that modern church”. The said church being Hallgrímskirkja or the Church of Hallgrímur.

Well, it does not lead to the church. On photos, yes, but there is quite a gap between the rainbow painted street and the church, as you can see on the photos at the start of this post. So not all Skólavörðustígur is painted in the rainbow flag colours.

Let’s have a kiki at Kiki Queer Bar

We went to Kiki Queer Bar at Laugavegur 22 (enter on Klapparstígur). When you look online for gay bars in Reykjavík, Kiki is the number search result.

The others are:

Bravó on the same Laugavegur 22 address. Its Facebook page is everything but shouting LGBTQIA+ content.
Curious seems to be already closed.
Other venues on gay bar listings are labelled as (extremely) queer friendly.

So, Kiki. It was drag night. When we entered, the unnamed 53-year-old drag queen had a hard time warming up the audience but the longer we stayed, the better the interactions went. So that was fun. The audience was mixed. A lot of straight people, but the queer percentage rose up as the evening progressed. And when the drag show was over and tables and chairs where put away, the night belonged to the unicorns.

The queen taught us Icelanders are direct. If they seem tho flirt, they’re just friendly. If they flirt they will be explicit: “do you want to fuck?”.

Queerbaiting?

Do you know what queerbaiting is? Queerbaiting is a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but then do not depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQIA+ representation. The purpose is to attract or “bait” a LGBTQIA+ or straight ally audience with the suggestion or possibility of relationships or characters that appeal to them.

Queerbaiting has been observed in popular culture and fiction such as films, television series, books, music, ads, various forms of media, but also in celebrities who convey an ambiguous sexual identity through their works and statements. The term arose in and has been popularized through discussions in Internet fandom since the early 2010s.

It comes from a larger history of LGBTQIA+ discourse in media representation dating back to the 1970s from subtle marketing to LGBTQIA+ people through commercials and books.

Examples of ‘clear’ queerbaiting are:

The series ‘Sherlock‘. The cast and crew of have consistently denied that the relationship between the titular detective and his flatmate is intended to be seen as romantic, but critics have called the depiction queerbaiting.
Disney are pro at queerbaiting. The directors of ‘Avengers: Endgame‘ had spoken in interviews about believing it was “a perfect time” to include queer representation in the franchise, however, it turned out to be a single line said by an unnamed secondary character in the film. ‘The Rise of Skywalker‘ faced similar criticism after director J.J. Abrams stated in the promotional press tour for the film that he had included queer representation in the film, but it turned out to be a single shot of a kiss in the background of one scene. A number of other Disney films, including the 2017 ‘Beauty and the Beast‘ film and ‘Cruella‘ were promoted as having queer characters (in some cases promoted as having Disney’s first openly queer character), yet in each case the portrayal of queerness on screen was either just hinted at or a brief background that could easily be missed. But what would Disney do without its legion of gay fans with their subscription to the theme parks.
The infamous Britney Spears and Madonna kiss.

There are many more.

But sometimes it’s less clear. Singer Harry Styles is accused of queerbaiting because he likes genderbending outfits. But is he as straight as some people think?

In 2022, ‘Heartstopper‘ star Kit Connor was forced to come out as bisexual in real life after he was spotted with a girl, while playing bisexual character Nick Nelson in a gay relationship on screen.

Is Reykjavík rainbowbaiting?

Why am I telling you this. I have this feeling Reykjavík is rainbowbaiting us. Quite literally with the Rainbow Street (not really) leading to a church. Queering religion is gefundenes Fressen to get the attention of the LGBTQIA+ ‘community’.

But with one bar, the reaping is meagre.

Yes, there are a few queer run shops and cafés. There is a pride in summer and in winter. So it’s not there’s nothing. But the marketing promises more than there is. And yes, that is true for our hometown Antwerp as well.

Iceland gay friendly?

Iceland scores well on ILGA Europe‘s Rainbow Europe Map & Index. 61% to 63% and an 11th place on the 2022 map (regarding 2021). Iceland does well regarding anti-discrimnation law, gender recognition mechanism, family issues such as marriage equality, the protection of intersex people, the cherishing of the civil society and asylum policies.

Sexual health, safe spaces and queer clubbing and bar scenes are not being reviewed. ILGA-Europe wrote in March 2023: “Several hate crimes took place this year and were reported to the police. Anti-LGBTQI+ ‘barking’ grew increasingly common this year. In August, the rainbow-coloured steps of a church were repeatedly vandalised. Also in August, nine rainbow flags were ripped down in Hellu, another flag in Kópavogur was vandalised, and posters were tagged with nazi symbols. Samtökin ’78 received ten reports of anti-LGBTQ harassment following pride week.”

So one can’t say Iceland is generally homophobic. But playing out the country’s rainbow community while it’s so small, feels like rainbowbaiting to me.

Grindr

Iceland has some 377,000 inhabitants of which 233,000 live in the Reykjavík metropolitan area. If 5% of the world is not straight, that’s 18,850 and 11,650.

Obviously not all of those are out, go out. I didn’t have any conversations on gay hook-up app Grindr but Oriol did. There a dancer from Spain living in Iceland said Icelanders are barely on the dating apps “because they all know each other”. While that’s hyperbolic, it has a ring of plausibility.

So yes, Reykjavík is gay friendly, bit don’t expect a big rainbow scene.

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