Gay rights and the coolest mayor ever

Meet Jón Gnarr, the mayor of Reykjavik.

You may have heard this name before: the mayor was on the spotlight recently because of his open letter (and open speech) to Vladimir Putin about how crazy it is to ban gay people from a Country and the Olympic Games.

Jón is an advocate of gay rights, one of the most prominent and vocal in Europe. 

After a priminent career in punk music in Iceland, he founded the Best Party as a joke in 2009. As it happens, though, the Best Party won the elections in Reykjavik and Jón became the mayor just as the kreppa (the big financial crisis) hit Iceland. 

What makes Jón a great mayor is the fact that he is one of the biggest promoters of the gay pride in Reaykjavik and, through his office, calls on not-so-widesighted politicians. 

Jón has been spotted wearing a Jedi costume and, during the 2011 gay pride, he appeared as a drag queen as you can see below:

Advocating LGBT rights in politics is pretty rare, yet Jón is more and more outspoken about it. His facebook profile is full of resources and articles about how hard it is for LGBT people to be recognized as people and citizens, and how hard it is to actually have rights. Gay marriage is legal in Iceland, but Jón reckons there's still a lot to do.

What Jón does may be seen as idealistic, but the people of Reaykjavik seem to follow really well. Just an example: recently, the famous anti-gay preacher Franklin Graham planned a conference in Reykjavik. The Church of Iceland released a statement saying that they were not associated with the initiative and strongly disagreed with Graham's views; moreover, an initiative came up on social networks that demanded Icelanders to buy the tickets to the event and not going, leaving the room empty. They did it. I bet mister Graham will not be seen around Iceland very soon.

As you can see, Iceland is not just about elves, crazy parties and the Midnight Sun. It is about respect and human rights. It is about being decent people and willing to make this world a better place. You can actually breathe this mind set in this Country.