A gender critical activist in Iceland is under police investigation for seven posts he made to Facebook and X in which he criticized male breastfeeding and teaching “gender diversity” to children. Eldur Kristinsson, who also stood candidate in the recent Icelandic elections, informed Reduxx that he was reported to police by a LGBT rights organization that has accused him of violating the country’s hate speech laws.
Kristinsson is the chairman of Samtökin 22, a gender critical organization that supports single-sex spaces and opposes the medical transitioning of children. In the recent Icelandic parliamentary elections, which took place on November 30, Kristinsson stood as a candidate in the centre-right Democratic Party for the Northwest constituency.
During the election cycle, RÚV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, ran an interview with the leader of the Democratic Party, Arnar Þór Jónsson. During the episode, the interviewer interrogated Jónsson on Kristinsson’s membership, and repeated an unsubstantiated claim that Kristinsson had once been removed from a school by police for making rude comments about a transgender person’s genitals and photographing pupils and staff. Speaking to Reduxx, Kristinsson noted that not only were the claims completely false, but that the state broadcaster had refused to issue an apology beyond affixing a small “correction” to their coverage.
In an effort to further prove RÚV‘s comments defamatory, Kristinsson went to his local police station to request a copy of his record to prove he’d never had any interactions with police beyond a 2001 speeding ticket. It was at this time he learned he was under investigation for hate speech.
Within 24 hours of visiting the police station, Kristinsson was told he would be required to submit to a criminal investigation surrounding social media posts he had made criticizing gender ideology. The investigation had been launched after Samtökin 78, a member organization of the International Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association, had filed a formal complaint against him.
In total, seven of Kristinsson’s posts dating back to November of 2022 were under investigation. Kristinsson provided Reduxx with a copy of the complaint Samtökin 78 had filed, which listed the dates and text of the posts they believed violated Article 233 of the Icelandic Criminal Code.
Among them were a comment Kristinsson made about Pride Month, in which he wrote that corporations “alter their logos to appease all the little führers in the cult of validation and we will hear nothing else than trans, trans, trans, translesbians, girl dick this and that.”
In another comment, Kristinsson noted that some trans-identified males have autogynephilia – in which males are sexually aroused at the thought of themselves as women. Further posts include Kristinsson saying that “people who give birth to children are called women,” and suggesting that Samtökin 78 was “grooming 10-year-old kids in the 5th grade.” The group’s activities have included lecturing on “gender diversity” to children of that age in Iceland’s elementary schools.
Two of the seven posts which were reported to police involve Kristinsson condemning news outlets promoting trans-identified males who induced lactation for the purposes of “breastfeeding” children.
In their complaint to police, Samtökin 78 said that Kristinsson “actively participated in criminal hate propaganda against gay people because of their gender characteristics and/or gender identity,” and that he should be “charged and sentenced to punishment for that behavior according to the law.”
Because his comments were “serious, grossly hurtful and prejudicial,” the group claims that they “cannot be considered to add anything relevant to the social debate,” and therefore would not be protected under freedom of expression. If found guilty under Article 233 of Iceland’s hate speech laws, Kristinsson could face either a fine or up to two years in prison.
In a statement on the lawsuit given to Visir News, Bjarndís Helga Tómasdóttir of Samtökin 78 said the organization “will not sit by idly while individuals continue to perpetuate lies about queer people and trans people.”
Tómasdóttir continued: “He claimed in one comment that Samtökin 78 is grooming or seducing children. In other comments, he calls trans women pedophiles. We believe such comments are indefensible and simply endanger the safety of our staff, volunteers, and the entire queer community.” A second article published by Visir the following day claimed Kristinsson had a “long history of inflammatory remarks.”
Ironically, Samtökin 78 had previously come under fire after it was learned that one of its board members had been sexually harassing children.
As previously reported by Reduxx, Þórhildur Sara Sveinbjörnsdóttir, a trans-identified male who was chairman of the group’s Community Council, was forced to resign after allegations emerged that he had sexually harassed children online and raped a man with cognitive impairments.
According to the victim, Sveinbjörnsdóttir had asked him to come with him to the washroom, at which point Sveinbjörnsdóttir held him down and raped him orally and anally.
Sveinbjörnsdóttir was also accused of having inappropriate communications with children, with one young girl coming forward to allege that the man had sexually harassed her when she was just 13.
Reduxx is your source of pro-woman, pro-child safeguarding news and commentary. We’re 100% independent! Support our mission by making a donation.
