Iceland never has been a typical country.

It’s capital city, Reykjavík, was founded in 874 by a Norwegian who threw pillars out of his boat and decided to settle wherever they washed ashore.

More recently, the United Nations Development Programme listed Icelanders as the most literate residents in the world. They are renowned for their taste in highbrow art and literature, and for their tendencies toward self-sufficiency and independence.

The country of Iceland also has a lesbian prime minister.

On Sunday, Johanna Sigurdardottir was sworn in as the world’s first openly gay head of government.

In your face, America.

In the interest of full disclosure, however, Iceland did not elect Sigurdardottir; she was appointed. After their economy collapsed and the currency’s value dropped to somewhere between three squares of toilet paper and a broken VCR, the entire Cabinet resigned, leaving the president to appoint “Saint Johanna” to the premiership.

Even though this is somewhat temporary (elections will be held as early as April), and she is not directly the choice of the people, the initial response has been overwhelmingly positive toward Sigurdardottir.

When considered, Iceland is probably the most logical place for the first homosexual head of state to reside. On the flip side, it makes me think it will most likely not happen in the U.S., at least during our lifetime.

The entire population of Iceland is only slightly bigger than that of the city of Chandler, possibly forcing Icelanders to be more accepting. Avoiding the people and places they don’t care for isn’t as easy as it is for those in America.

In the U.S., tolerance isn’t a necessity, it’s a luxury. Most of us can afford to live without it.

If I wanted to minimize the chances of having a black family live in my neighborhood that could possibly pollute my child’s brain with their demonic “gangsta rap,” I could move to Des Moines, Iowa. Similarly, if I want to hang out only with hippies, I can move to Boulder, Colorado.

America does not have one cohesive culture that ties us all together.

While both of the places aforementioned are clearly more diverse than my portrayal, it demonstrates that we can control our environment a bit more in America, create a scenario where we feel comfortable and eliminate as much of what we don’t like from our surroundings as we possibly can.

Here in American, tolerance comes more from a gracious self-image rather than actual practice.

With 1,000 times more people in the U.S. than in Iceland, it is 1,000 times more difficult to align goals and interests amongst all citizens.

Sure, we just instated our first black president, and we may elect a woman sometime in the relatively near future.

But in a country where the phrase “that’s gay” is slang for “that sucks,” you can bet that the chances of an openly gay woman running the executive branch of our government are about as high as those of a Led Zeppelin reunion.

… And you thought Ryan’s headline was libelous. Contact him at ryan.oneal@asu.edu.