Sonja J. Jógvansdóttir (born 9 November 1977j.fo - Sonja Jógvansdóttir
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Tórshavn Tórshavn (; ; Danish language, Danish: ''Thorshavn''), usually locally referred to as simply Havn, is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of th ...

) is a Faroese journalist, politician, and establisher and coordinator of

Samtak Samtak is a national trade union centre for the Faroe Islands. The federation was established in 2006 by Sonja Jógvansdóttir, who remains its co-ordinator. The federation has four affiliates, with a total of about 5,600 members, and it is affil ...

, the Faroese trade union center. Until 2015, she was a member of Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin). She is a spokesperson for the rights of homosexual people and their rights in the Faroe Islands and was one of the establishers of LGBT Faroe Islands in 2011.

Political career

On 1 September 2015, Jógvansdóttir became the first Faroese person, who lives openly as a homosexual, who was elected to the Faroese parliament. She received second most votes of the Social Democratic Party. A few days after the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

and just after the government of Aksel V. Johannesen was appointed, she left the Social Democratic Party. The reason she left according to herself was that she did not wish to be a part of a homophobic party, as she felt that it was. At the same time she promised that she would support the government of Aksel V. Johannesen. As of March 2016, she is still an independent politician in the Løgting. The government coalition parties of the Løgting have only 16 members of 33, after the exit of Jógvansdóttir.

Bill on same sex marriage

On 24 September 2015, Jógvansdóttir along with

Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

member of the Løgting

Bjørt Samuelsen Bjørt Samuelsen (2 March 1965) is a Faroese journalist, master in food science (Danish: ) and politician (Republic). Political career She was elected for the Løgting at the 2008 Faroese general election and again in 2011. She was not electe ...

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

member Kristianna Winther Poulsen and

Progress Progress is movement towards a perceived refined, improved, or otherwise desired state. It is central to the philosophy of progressivism, which interprets progress as the set of advancements in technology, science, and social organization effic ...

member

Hanna Jensen Hanna Jensen (born 19 February 1973 in Leirvík) is a Faroese high school teacher and a liberal - conservative politician (Progress). Biography After finishing high school, Hanna Jensen studied Faroese language and literature at the Univer ...

, submitted a same-sex marriage bill to the Parliament Secretariat. The bill entered Parliament on 17 November 2015. If approved, the law would be scheduled to go into effect on 1 July 2016. The first reading took place 24 November 2015.Dagsskráin 2015 - Týsdagur, 24. November 2015, kl. 10:00
The second reading of the bill was held on 16 March 2016, after which modifications were made. The bill was passed by the Løgting on 29 April 2016, ratified by the Folketing in April 2017, and went into effect on 1 July 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jogvansdottir, Sonja 1977 births Living people Members of the Løgting Social Democratic Party (Faroe Islands) politicians Faroese women in politics Lesbian politicians Faroese LGBTQ politicians 21st-century women politicians Faroese journalists Faroese women journalists LGBTQ legislators