Musician and performer Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson, or “Paul Oscar” was awarded the Humanitarian Award by the Samtökin ’78, the Icelandic National Queer Organization.
Páll Óskar. Photo by Páll Stefánsson
Páll Óskar is a successful musician in Iceland and participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997; he is one of Iceland’s first musicians to come out of the closet and celebrated that with a never-to-be seen performance in the competition.
Páll Óskar is one of the key participants in the Reykjavík Gay Parade weekend that started yesterday and in an interview with Radio Rás 2 he talked about the importance of the event for the gay community and its struggle for equal rights, ruv.is reports.
“It’s about self-respect and the importance of embracing diversity. We saw what can come of what starts as defamatory comments on the internet; it can be the fuel and energy for some crazy guy out there, holding a bible in one hand and a gun in the other. We have to embrace the diversity this world has to offer.”
The Reykjavík Gay Parade starts at 2 pm this afternoon.
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