Country Overview
Denmark
At a glance
Same-sex Relations for Men Legal Throughout the Country?
Same-sex Relations for Women Legal Throughout the Country?
Legal Gender Recognition Possible?
LGBTI Orgs Able to Register?
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Legal protections for LGBTIQ people in Denmark are robust. Same-sex couples may marry and adopt, and the government announced its plan to “strengthen the opportunities for LGBT+ families with three or four parents” in August 2024. Discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics is banned. Transgender people may self-determine their legal gender markers, and nonbinary people may choose to use the gender marker ‘X’ on their passports. In July 2024, Denmark “completely eliminated” discrimination in blood donation and now asks all donors about sexual practices regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation. Denmark has a highly comprehensive sex education system that includes information on LGBTIQ issues. Public opinion is also very supportive—according to the 2023 Eurobarometer public opinion survey of Danish people, 93 percent agreed that there was nothing wrong with same-sex relationships, and 93 percent believe marriage equality should be the norm across Europe.
However, gaps in equal protection remain. In 2023, 18 percent of LGBTIQ respondents reported experiencing discrimination in health care settings. Gaps in gender-affirming health care, including long waiting queues, lead some trans people to self-medicate. Anti-trans rhetoric is becoming an increasingly prevalent issue. In August 2024, the then minister of gender equality claimed that legal gender recognition for trans and intersex people is “problematic” and could “overshadow the equality problems that actually exist. In 2024, the Supreme Court upheld the placement of a trans woman in a men’s prison, as well as strip searches and the taking of urine samples in the presence of male staff. Medically unnecessary interventions on intersex children remain legal.
*Outright research indicates that the bodily autonomy of intersex people is not respected and protected in this country.
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