Copenhagen: ‘We will hold open-air mass gay weddings at Eurovision’
Copenhagen has announced plans for open-air gay weddings in the week of Eurovision in May.
The director of Copenhagen’s Citizen Service, Thomas Jakobsen, told Eurovision.tv that open-air mass weddings will be held for both same and opposite-sex couples at three places in Copenhagen on the 7th, 9th and 10th of May.
This coincides with the Eurovision semi-finals, held in the city on the 6th and 8th of May, and the grand final, held on the 10th.
The 37 countries competing this year include Russia, which has faced sharp criticism for anti-gay laws.
Jakobsen said: “As a city, we put a lot of effort into making everyone welcome and the Eurovision Song Contest is an excellent opportunity to offer weddings.”
Weddings will be available to same-sex and opposite-sex couples, including foreign couples.
The world’s first civil partnership was held in the city in 1989, and so the event will also mark 25 years of same-sex partnerships in Denmark.
Søren Lauersen, Chairperson of LGBT Denmark, said: “I am sure that many couples, gay and straight from both home and abroad will accept this offer.”
It is not the first time Eurovision has been used as a platform.
In 2009, the Georgian entrants Stephane & 3G were disqualified from that year’s competition in Moscow, because their song ‘We Don’t Wanna Put In’ was judged to be anti-Putin.
Watch Finland’s 2013 entry ‘Marry Me’ below:
