Gay Sweden

LGBT History of Sweden

Back in the UK February is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) History month, so I thought I would tell you about the history over here in Sweden, which last year was named the most gay friendly country in Europe. After all this is the country that produced ABBA and loves Eurovision!
In 2006 An EU Member Poll Showed 71% Swedes supported same sex marriage. Also Gays are allowed to serve openly in the military.
So let’s take a step back and fill you in.

1944 Sweden legalised same sexual activities with the age of consent being 18. This at a time when Nazi Germany was persecuting gays (But not lesbians as they were thought to be treatable and women were the ones who could give birth) Compare this to the UK where Homosexuality was illegal until 1967 and then the age of consent was 21. Even with this bill it only allowed for homosexual acts could only take place privately as the bill still maintained prohibitions on buggery.

1972 Saw Sweden become the first country in the world to allow transsexuals to legally change their sex and provided free hormone therapy. This came into effect in the UK in 2004.
However not all was as progressive, although homosexuality was no longer illegal it was still considered an illness until 1979, when a number of people called into work saying they were sick with a “case of homosexuality.” A protest was then launched at the Board of Health and Welfare which led to declassification.

1987 Saw discrimination against homosexuals brought into line with discrimination on the grounds of race and gender. However Transgender identity was de listed as an illness and then added to this discrimination legislation in 2008.




1995 Saw same sex couples being able to register their partnerships. This gave these partners the same legal rights as married couples.

1998 sees the first Stockholm Pride Festival.




May 2009 saw civil partnerships registrations cease as the government passed legislation allowing same sex marriage. This move came about after the Chancellor of Justice proposed that marriage be extended to same sex couples. 2008 saw the legislation go to the Rikstag to be voted on. All parties bar the Christian Democrats were in favour of the bill.

Out of 349 Members
261 Voted in favour
22 Voted No
16 Abstained
50 Absent




October 2009 Saw the Church of Sweden hold its own vote on whether to give homosexual couples its blessing. The Church voted in favour.

Out of 249 Seats
176 Yes
62 No
11 Abstain
0 Absent

Since 2003 same sex couples have had the same rights to adopt as married couples including the right for a single LGBT person to adopt. With regards to inter-country adoption the government holds the view that it is limited on the terms of the country of origin for the child.

Since 2008 the issue of gay blood donation has been under debate. The Board of Health & Welfare proposed that gay men should be eligible to donate blood but only after 6 months of last having sex. From 1sr March 2010 Gay men were supposed to be allowed to give blood after 1 year of abstaining from sex however the blood banks rejected the law which means this issue has been delayed until October 2011.

This timeline shows how far Sweden has come with gay rights and the story is similar all over Scandinavia. In 2009 Iceland elected its first openly gay Prime Minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir.

A Dinner Date With Swedish Politics

A few weeks ago I had dinner at City Hall here in Jönköping. There was a small group of us who attended and we met the mayor and other representatives from City Hall.




This got me thinking, I haven’t bored you all with the Politics of Sweden. So I shall write about it now, hopefully this won’t bore you.
The Kingdom of Sweden has a Constitutional Monarch, since 1973 it has been King Carl XVI Gustaf. Since 1975 the monarch has no executive authority. The Government system is similar to that of the UK, headed by the Prime Minister and their Cabinet. The Government sits in the Riksdag with the legislative assembly.




The General Election of 2010

In Sweden they have fixed terms, every 4 years on the third Sunday in September an election is called for the Seats in the Riksdag, 20 County Councils and 290 Municipal assemblies.
To vote you must be 18, Swedish Citizen and at some point have been living in Sweden.
Now this is where it gets a bit messy. There are a choice of 3 ballot papers in the general election. 1) you can hand in a ballot paper with your preferred party, 2) You hand in a ballot with the chosen party and then you can mark your preference of candidate and 3) You are given a blank ballot and you write the party you wish to vote for. The allocation of seats is done on a proportional system meaning that a party that gets 25% of the vote should get around 25% of seats. The candidates are then chosen on 2 criteria, their party ranking and then the preference votes from the electorates. A candidate that gets 8% + preference votes goes to the top of the list, This happens in around 5% of cases.
The Riksdag has 349 seats, 310 are given to elected members with the remaining 39 used as ‘adjustment seats’ ensuring the number of seats matches the number of votes.

Are you still with me?

Well I may lose you now!

In the 2010 election there were 7 major parties which have formed their own alliances prior to the election!
The Governing Centre right alliance called Alliance for Sweden is made up of
Nya Moderata (Moderate Party) Lead by PM Fredrik Reinfeldt
Folkpartiet Liberalerna (Liberal People’s Party)
Centrepartiet (The Centre Party)
Kristdemokraterna (The Christian Democrats)

The Opposition alliance called The Red Green Alliance is made up of
Sveriges Socialdemokratiska (Sweden’s Social Democrats)
Miljöpartiet de Gröna (Green Party)
Vänsterpartiet (The Left Party, {formerly communist})

Things to note:
The social democrats, though in opposition are the largest political party in Sweden. This party has only been out of power from 1976-82, 1991-93 and 2006-Present. This party can boast the longest serving PM from 1947-69 PM Tage Erlander at the time of the 2010 election it was lead by Mona Sahlin however since the defeat she has announced her intentions to resign as party leader.

The New Moderates are the second largest party and under Reinfeldt the Right wing party have moved towards the centre ground. He is the first centre right PM to have won 2 terms since WWII

The left party are a socialist/feminist party. Ironically since adopting this feminist stance under Gudrun Schyman the party hasn’t had a female leader since 2003 when she stood down.

2010 Election Results





The Sverigedemokraterna (Swedish Democrats)problem.
This party is the Nationalist Party, thinking similar thoughts to the BNP, the country has too high an immigration intake threatening national identity and wants to return refugees to their home states etc. They don’t like the ‘special privileges’ the indigenous Sami people have, and wants to abolish the Sami Parliament. The party claim they are not hostile to homosexuals but they have a strong belief in the ‘nuclear family’ and oppose the rights for homosexuals to have children.

Why are they a problem?
(Apart from the reasons mentioned above!)

Well for the first time they have managed to win Parliamentary seats, 20 of them from a 5.7% vote, more than the left party. This meant that none of the two alliances could form a majority government and with the Alliance for Sweden holding power with a minority government the Swedish Democrats now hold the balance of power. Both alliances have said they will not work with the SDs. This then lead to protests including in Jönköping. Swedes say two things you don’t talk about in Sweden are Politics and Religion, so to see demonstrations of this kind is rare and holds a huge point.

January: Round 2 Begins

I’m now into my 3rd week of semester 2 and it’s about time I caught you guys up.
Well Kick off week was shall we say quieter than the one in Semester 1. It was split into two as not all the schools were back at the same time. So week one was the turn of JIBS and the Engineers school. The first night was ‘the winter games’ Let’s be honest game. We separated into teams and had a relay race, running up a snow covered mound and then tobogganing back down. Was fun however I got myself a fair few scratches, the ‘toboggan’ was a small plastic dish type thing with a handle attached to it, so very easy to fall off. With it being dark it was quite hard to see people’s faces clearly in order to remember them. After that event we went back to delta had a few drinks then hit a bar after, good fun with people on the first floor of Delta. Day 2 was the bar crawl This was rather enjoyable, meeting new people, though I did struggle to remember names but was very good at remembering where people had come from . The bar crawl was 3 bars, (Something to note not a lot of bars in the city!) but still a good night to be had. Thursday night was the welcome party at O’learys (Aka was shut this week) this is where I got my first taste of living in the city. Being able to stay at the bars until closing and then the after-parties

There aren’t as many students on exchange this time round. About 200 in JIBS with a majority from France and Canada. I am now living in the city centre in Delta House. A block of flats above one of the night clubs here. There are 12 of us to a flat and 5 flats, so a fair few of us. I have got myself acquainted with my flatmates and the guys on the first floor. I live with people who were here last semester. The guys on the first floor are all new. 2 Americans, 2 Australians, fair few French. Can’t remember others.




Anyway other things that are happening: The trip to Kiruna goes on sale on the 1st of February So I shall be up early for that to get a seat. Only £469!!! Then I have an evening Buffet at City Hall with the Mayor and local Politicians. That’s at the beginning of next month.
This month Sweden is host to the Men’s World Championship of Handball and some of the matches are being played here in Jönköping. Now I haven’t really heard of Handball before but luckily the UK has not entered a team so I am loyally supporting the home nation!
Not a very exciting blog update but I’m sure more exciting stuff will arise.

Semester 1, a long lasting memory

Well one Semester is over, and what a semester, it has been incredible. Coming to a country I have never visited before with a language I had no prior knowledge of, the thought of socialising with people who are stereotyped as shy and reserved (Sorry Swedes but it’s true) and then studying in a different education system. Yet here I am, I survived it.

Let’s start with a big thank you to the Fadders who looked after us for the first 2 weeks and beyond. You really showed us a great time during the kick of week doing all you could to make us feel part of the University community, even speaking in English all the time so we could join in with conversations! It must have been annoying especially the more drunk you got, (Ronnie I’m in particular talking about you asking me several times when you were drunk for a cigarette in Swedish!, That was day 2!) You took us under your wings and we formed our own little group of friends within the Kick Off week group, (we even had some defect to our group!)
Highlights of Kick off week were; going on a continued nights out with you guys, the Swe Party (The biggest pool party in Scandinavia with over 1400 people!) To that day I had never had a beer in a pool. The traditional jump into the canal at 2.30 am after the Toga party. The Pre parties you Fadders layed on for us, and of course to finish of a long fortnight of drinking Sunday Brunch!

Bad things about Kick off week; the cost and realising how much alcohol would cost 

Another thank you coming up. To my Group of mates, (strangely it was manly kept within the commonwealth!), (In no particular order) Nick, Stuart, Christian, Kieran, Jo, Jakob In particular with other great people who I also met and spent a lot of time with (Yet again no particular order) Fabian, Giacomo, Anna, Thomas, Max and so many more from all over the world. You made the experience that much better and I do one day hope to come and visit you in your home nations and likewise if you come to visit Britain. We definitely shared some good times, laughter (Mainly at Christian’s expense, but if you do silly things...!) Many a drunken night together. Memories I shall treasure until the day I die (Or the day I get Alzheimers, whichever comes first!)

To my housemates, Bernhard, Fedder and Peyton. My family for the semester. Aka will not be the same without you Fedder. It was a pleasure living with you and our extended family in the other houses across the playground!

The University has also been good to us! Yep I said it, though they gave us much more work in a shorter space of time than we or I am normally used to and giving us exams at 8 in the morning on a Sunday and 4 hour long lectures. But yeah it has been a fun place, the academic side communicating with the social side to assist us with our easing in. The Student Union and IA organising trips and running Aka on a Wednesday night with volunteer work. So credit where credit is due.

Cheers guys
Xxx

Tis the season to say farewell!

Well with the current issues with transport from and to the UK, my flight has been delayed by an hour and a half, so I shall use this time to write another blog entry and fill you guys in.

Well the last few weeks have been quite sad as the time has been drawing to a close. People have been slowly disappearing one by one. The rush round to say goodbye to all my new friends has been quite something and sadly I have not been totally successful. Sp for all those I couldn’t say goodbye to, forgive me. I wish all my new friends every bit of luck in the world. It has been an amazing adventure this past semester. Making friends from all over the world is great but sadly I won’t see you as much as I’m used to anymore. I feel like a family is being broken up. I hope to one day visit you all in your home countries and I hope to come visit you in yours. I already have plans to go to the Netherlands to meet up with my Austrian friend Max for Queens Day, (A royal holiday, cheeky!) Also I have an invite to go to a beer fest in Germany in Fabians home town. My leaving book is filled with offers of a place to stay should I come out. It has been valuable experience but luckily for me I get to do it all again in January.

January is a bit daunting with most of my Fadders going on their exchanges around the world I wont have as many people around however I am leaving suburban life behind and moving to a flat in the city. Plenty of new people to be met and of course I still have Jake, Anna and Thomas plus the locals around.
I’m currently waiting on one exam result in particular. Swedish 1. I need to pass this to continue my Swedish studies next semester. The grammar is quite tough but I have a feeling it has gone better than the first time round just need to get 60% to pass! 60%!

I am looking forward to going home, sad it may be to leave this time behind, but I gather my family are missing me and I them. Plus it is the Xmas break and I love spending it with family.

Well that’s all I shall write for now as I’m hoping the plane taking me to Gatwick will be here in a few minutes, (Delayed take off from Gatwick!) I then have a flight from Gatwick to LeedsBradford, last minute booking as the snow has caused rail problems.

I shall give a full update and summary of this semester in my next blog once I get home.

God Jul & Gott Nytt År
(Especially my Nordic friends who celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve)

Update, Reunion, Culture, Elections & an annoying street entertainer

Well it’s been a while and sadly no more travels to report on. The money is running out for this semester so I shall spend the rest of the time in Jönköping. Sucks I know but I look forward to the budget airline January sales. I still want to get to Iceland at some point but the prices are quite high atm.
Start off with the bad news. I didn’t make it back in time for the trip to Kiruna in North Sweden, which is where the Ice hotel is and is spot for the Northern Lights, however I have been told it is better to go in January/Feb time as that is when the Northern Lights are more commonly seen (plus the ice hotel hasn’t been constructed yet!) I’m not paying £500 for that lol. Anyway people have been organising their own trips up there, flying instead of the 24hr train ride up north! So I shall hear back from them when they return and take on advice from them.
Yes Christmas season is finally upon us here in Sweden. I loved the fact they didn’t do the British thing of stocking Christmas stock until after Halloween. The city streets have their lights up and the City’s Christmas tree has also been put up. The university also has one on campus.

As I write this we are on day 7 of snowfall, not continuous though but it snows at least once a day, if not all day. I absolutely love the weather atm. I’m glad I managed to find some snow boots in my size otherwise my trainers would be ruined. We constantly have snow plows out and about clearing the roads and sometimes pavements, this does lead to some places being covered with more snow than others. I have had snow to the top of my boots! Yes the temperature has been falling. 2 weeks ago the temperature didn’t rise above 5C and got as low as -3C Now however it is constantly in the negative numbers I’ve seen a high of -1C to a low of -11C. Now when the wind isn’t blowing this is fine however the wind chill burns the face.

Cultural Days:
Now I haven’t mentioned these before so I shall fill you in. Every Wednesday a group of international students make some food, posters, facts and powerpoint presentations representing their home Nation. We’ve had Iran day, Russia Day, Canada day and this week it was the turn of the Australians. (I know ironic Australia and culture! Joke) So I went along found out I still don’t like Vegimite, question a few of their Aussie slang words (because I’m pretty sure some they had in the list are British) but never mind. Then of course was the most un Australian thing, Aussie football in the snow!

Space Jam Reunion:
This was a really good night I co-organised. If you remember we were split into groups in kick off week and our groups theme was space jam. So the majority of the group was reunited for a big night out with drinking games and banter. It was really good to see everyone again especially the Swedes, as we only see them briefly in between lectures. It is probably the last time we will all be together as exchanges are coming to an end and the senior Swedish students are about to start their exchanges.

JIBS Student Association (JSA) Elections:
It was the time of the year to vote for a new board of JSA. As stated in a previous blog I got a seat on the election committee (EC). So this last week I have been busy with this. The ECs role was to go through the applications from the candidates, interview them and then make the recommendations at the conference. Some recommendation decisions were straight forward, others not so straight forward. We only refused to nominate on one position due to the belief that the only candidate standing was not suited to the role. Luckily however a challenger put themselves forward at the meeting, and so the position was filled. No one had applied for Vice President of the board and I had considered it however on advice I did not stand due to the role needing a knowledge/ability of reading Swedish law. That position was also filled at the meeting, by a chap who was born in Plymouth but his family relocated to Sweden when he was 6. The EC had a 75% success rate in getting our nominated candidates elected. A lot higher than previous years I am told (particularly last year where no candidates nominated by the EC were approved)

This coming week:
Well the main event of this week is the goodbye dinner. This will be a gathering of exchange students for a meal before heading on to Aka. I imagine it will be quite a moving night as we come to terms with the fact that we only have weeks rather than months left together. I know of a few exchange students who are staying on for the 2nd semester, Jake in particular who I have gotten to know really well and then of course the Programme students who have to stay here, so I won’t be totally alone, however it is annoying that we have to go through the whole process again of meeting people. It will feel like the family is being broken up.
Swedish re-sit:
Well as this is the only exam that poses any value this year I am determined to pass it. I have been working on the grammar, trying to read the newspapers and of course this gives me an excuse to listen to the Swedish music of Carola.

Broken phone:
I am absolutely furious at that street entertainer. Let me fill you in. Walking through Stockholm we passed a statue street entertainer, and as I was walking past him I was texting someone back, he then chooses this point to move and he makes me jump, my phone goes flying out of my hand and lands in a puddle! It worked for 2 mins and then died. I sent it off to be fixed and there is nothing they can do but they were going to charge me £47 to have the broken phone returned. So I just decided to get another cheap phone, luckily I found one for £20 as the phone i had originaly had gone up to £70. Not a happy bunny bout that.

Well I do believe you are now up to date, I shall write next after goodbye dinner I imagine

Cheerio

First Snowfall

It has finally happened. The first proper snowfall, incredibly exciting to open my blinds and see the big blanket of snow. Proper snow not the powdery stuff we get in the UK. I had to put my winter boots & snow jacket on. I was however saddened when as I went into Uni in the centre there was no snow, too warm in the centre. After uni we had a snowball fight between the students here in Huskvarna. Sadly only two members of the alliance here with the majority of students being from Austria-Germany. Friendly fire from my roommate.

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