Gay Guide to Copenhagen
On 1 October 1989 Copenhagen's deputy mayor opened the doors of the city hall and registered eleven same-sex partnerships, the first anywhere in the world. The first couple through were Axel and Eigil Axgil, then 74 and 67, who had been together for decades and had long since merged their two names into a shared surname that no law recognized. Denmark's registered partnership carried nearly every right of marriage except adoption, and it became the template half of Europe copied over the following fifteen years. Full marriage followed in 2012.
The scene is small, central and old. Centralhjørnet has been a gay bar since the 1950s and is generally called the oldest in the city; Café Intime is older still as a room and stranger as an evening. Oscar, Masken, Men's Bar, Never Mind and Centre Stage fill out the center, and Jailhouse leans into its own theme harder than strictly necessary.
Kødbyen, the old meatpacking district, took over the late nights years ago, with Jolene the one to aim for. SLM and Body Bio cover the leather and cruising end, and the Amigo sauna handles the rest.
Copenhagen Pride fills Rådhuspladsen in August, which means it happens on the same square as the 1989 registrations. Winter Pride runs a smaller edition in February, and MIX Copenhagen, the film festival, has been going since the 1980s.
Copenhagen is expensive and best seen by bicycle. The dedicated scene is modest for a capital, largely because the city is so integrated that a great many ordinary bars are simply unremarkable places to be gay, which lowers the ceiling and raises the floor at the same time.