From: rwockner@netcom.com (Rex Wockner)
Date: Sat, 21 May 1994 10:58:48 -0700 (PDT)

{ ARTICLE PULLED FROM FREE-LANCE JOURNALIST REX WOCKNER'S
ARCHIVES. ARTICLE WRITTEN OCT. 1, 1989, IN COPENHAGEN, DENMARK.
ARTICLE HEADED FOR QRD ARCHIVES. }

ARTICLE # 1 OF 3


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DANES MAKE HISTORY: GAYS LEGALLY MARRY
 
by Rex Wockner
 
PULL QUOTE: "If everyone comes out of the closet, then this will happen
everywhere." --67-year-old Eigil Axgil.
 

        In what is being hailed as a fundamental turning point in
the fight for gay and lesbian equality, 11 gay-male couples were
legally married Oct. 1 in the Copenhagen, Denmark, Town Hall.
        Denmark is the first country in the world to allow
gay/lesbian marriage and this was the day the new law took
effect. The grooms included a high school teacher, a Lutheran
minister and a school psychologist.
        As hoards of reporters from all over the world stampeded for
interviews, the 11 marriages were compared with such watershed
gay events as the 1969 Stonewall Revolt in New York City, the
650,000-strong 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay
Rights and the 1988 mobilization in Great Britain against
homophobic Clause 28.
        "This is one of the five most important days ever in the
lesbian and gay struggle," boasted one jubilant celebrant to
Copenhagen's "Pink Radio" station. The Copenhagen daily newspaper
Berlingske Tidende dubbed the 11 weddings, simply, "the event of
the year."
        At the center of the festivities was 74-year-old Axel Axgil
and his 67-year-old partner of 40 years, Eigil Axgil. Axel
founded the Danish gay-rights movement by coming out of the
closet in 1948. He was fired from his job the very next day. 
        "I'm quite overwhelmed with all these people and the press,"
Axel said through a translator, "but it's overall very
beautifully put together." 
        "We just never could have dreamed we would get this far,"
added Eigil. "Of course, we always hoped we would be fully
accepted and have the same rights as others."
        Eigil said he was not troubled at being married amidst a
"media circus" because it is "the necessary price you pay for
making world history."
        Many other gay and lesbian couples saw it differently,
however, and postponed their weddings until later. Activists with
the National Association for Gays and Lesbians [LBL] had thought
that 50 to 100 couples might marry Oct. 1, but as the historical
significance of the day became more apparent, several couples
backed out.
        Only three of the 11 couples later attended a press
conference, including the pair that had been trailed for eight
days by a British Broadcasting Corporation documentary crew.
  
You Can Change The World
 
        Asked if he had any words of encouragement for gay and
lesbian couples in other countries who might someday hope to be
married, Eigil Axgil said: "Be open. Come out. Keep fighting.
This is the only way to move anything. If everyone comes out of
the closet then this will happen everywhere."
        LBL national president Else Slange agreed. "You must get
involved with politicians," she said. "Make them learn about you,
make them know what you are and how you think. You must also get
people in mainstream politics to be open as gays and lesbians."
        Despite her obvious joy at LBL's success, Slange added that
she has a "personal ideological opposition to the ruler/ruled
model of heterosexual marriage" and would never get married
herself. "But now gays and lesbians can choose," she said, "and
that is very, very important."
 
It All Happened So Fast
 
         The weddings themselves were surprisingly brief. Copenhagen
Vice-Mayor Tom Ahlberg addressed the group for two minutes,
reminding the grooms of their duties of "joint love, helpfulness
and tolerance."
        Each couple then individually entered a small adjacent room
to answer the single question, "Will you take ... as a partner?"
After both men said 'yes,' they signed the marriage certificate
and made way for the next couple.
        Photographers nearly got into fist fights jockeying for
position in the cramped space.
        After all vows had been exchanged, the couples descended the
Town Hall steps into a hundreds-strong throng of well-wishers
flinging rice and confetti. Champagne flowed freely as the Danes
exclaimed "Skal."
        The three activist couples then made a dramatic exit in
horse-drawn carriages, winding through the narrow streets of
Copenhagen to a grand reception at the stylish LBL offices.
        Many observers expressed surprise that no lesbians were
married on this first day. There was no clear explanation why,
but some activists suggested that it was a matter of "media
intimidation" or a "preference for privacy."
 
 Details
 
        There are two remaining problems with Denmark's new gay-
marriage law. Homosexuals are not yet permitted to adopt
children. And the new legislation does not require the state
Lutheran church to offer gay-marriage ceremonies. Activists are
fighting both omissions and expect the issue of church weddings
to be resolved first. 
        At least one partner in a Danish gay/lesbian marriage must
be a Danish citizen currently living in Denmark. According to Tom
Stoddard of New York's Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund,
the marriages will not be recognized in the 50 U.S. states, but
he said "it should make for fascinating test cases in the courts
should a couple emigrate and demand their rights."
 
Media
 
         Copenhagen's four daily newspapers gave overwhelmingly
positive coverage to the weddings, with large color photographs
of the grooms kissing and carrying each other over the threshold.
But both state television channels buried the story in their
newscasts, with TV-1 running only a three-minute report at the
very end of an hour-long broadcast.
        Some Danish activists, however, insisted that the sparse TV
coverage was proof that homosexuality really is "no big deal" in
Denmark. They said they found it incredible that the BBC,
The New York Times and the American gay press had come all the
way to Copenhagen for their "little wedding."

==end==