Copenhagen: 24 July 2008

Today was the last day of the series of lectures and the topic switched to the rights of Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transexual (GLBT) community in Denmark. Discrimination based on sexual orientation was a new topic the group hadn't covered yet, and differs from other minority issues that involve race, ethnicitiy or national background.

We first met with Peter Ussing of LBL, a Danish organization that advocates for the rights of the GLBT community, specifically monitoring instances of abuse and discrimination. Mr. Ussing gave a brief overview of the legal rights of homosexuals in Denmark, but then discussed the challenges still facing the gay community. Some issues include right to marriage, right to adopt children and defense against abuse and discrimination. Perhaps most interesting was Mr. Ussing's discussion of the "heteronormative?"attitudes of society and the need to better include the GLBT community in mainstream Danish life.

The next speaker was Kenneth Engberg, another spokesman from LBL who focused on hate crimes against gays. He discussed the problematic monitoring of hate crimes against gays and means of making police more responsive to acts of discriminatory abuse. He too talked about the current heteronormative attitudes of general Danish society and the necessity of combating "gay-bashing." From both speakers it seemed apparent that Denmark had made much progress in establishing equality for gays and lesbians (in fact being the first country to allow civil unions between gay couples) but still had much work to do in establishing complete social equality.

Thus concluded the first session of the 2008 HIA Danish Core Program, and onward we march to researching, interviews and paper writing.