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A SOBER CONVERSATION

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Coffee Date with Mads

We met with Mads, a representative of LGBT Denmark, at the aptly-named "Pussy Galore's" Cafe. Mads was just as open as we had hoped -- clearly, he was passionate about his cause! He does a lot of lobbying for LGBT Denmark, an organization that is trying to get government funding and support but is currently completely based off of volunteer work.
     Mads is really in line with our 'queen of queer,' Judith Butler. He says that these days, when LGBT Denmark goes into schools to educate, it's less about being gay or straight and more about "what does it mean to be a boy, what does it mean to be a girl, what constitutes gender." He says that his family, and generally the older Danes, don't understand his revolutionary views on gender. In his case, it seems like his parents want to understand, but just can't make the leap. They are accepting of his sexuality, but when it comes to what that may mean to him, and what he actually does with his partners (from dating to sex), they have no idea. His grandmother only found out he was gay from seeing him talking about hate crimes on Danish television!
     It seems like for Mads, getting away from Denmark was what actually prompted him to embrace his sexuality. He says that he always thought he might be gay, but was convinced that society was simply projecting that thought onto him. Then he went to China, got away from little Roskilde, and had a bit of an existential crisis there when he met a nice boy. He ended up writing to a Danish radio host and asking her what she thought, saying that he didn't think he was really gay, but wasn't sure --- he says she was really nice and pragmatic about it,  but in the end, when he wouldn't budge, just said, "Stop with the self-hate. You're gay."
     Once Mads came to terms with himself, he became a major activist for his sexuality. But ultimately, he isn't into the gay/straight definitions. He believes in new concepts of gender in the future. Perhaps he's the next Judith Butler.

We loved our night out on the town, but to learn a bit more about gay life in Denmark we had coffee with Mads Hvid, Chairperson of LGBT Youth in Copenhagen.