25 Years Ago Today In Denmark

Photo by Rex Wockner.

UPDATE: There’s a great write-up on Wilson Quarterly. It begins:

On October 1st 1989, An event unlike any before in history took place at the Copenhagen town hall in Denmark. That Sunday, a national law went into effect that allowed same-sex couples to be joined in a civil union, and 11 gay male couples did just that — a school psychologist, a Lutheran minister, and a high school teacher among them. One of the grooms, Eigil Axgil (née Eskildsen), then 67 years old, told Rex Wockner, an American journalist who was there covering it, “We just never could have dreamed that we would get this far.” They had plenty of reason for doubt. Four decades earlier, Eigil’s partner, Axel Axgil (née Lundahl-Madsen), launched Denmark’s first gay rights organization, the League of 1948 (whose name was later changed to the less-discreet Danish National Organization for Gays and Lesbians, or LBL for short.) Out of the closet, Axel was fired from his bookkeeping job and evicted by his landlord, but forged ahead. It was his group’s tireless lobbying over the years that eventually laid the groundwork that led to that historic day in 1989.

Definitely hit that link. Lots of wonderful photos.