If only I had been walking instead of cycling
I just came home from running some errands down in the centre of Copenhagen. As I bicycled past a very busy street corner I noticed three girls (about 12 years old) doing an absolute classic fan-girl "squee!!". I looked to see what had them so thrilled, and there were two fashion-model-cute boys of about the same age, with their arms around each other, just coming up for air from what had obviously been a very passionate kiss, and looking very pleased with themselves. Now THAT is an image I'm going to have with me the rest of my life! :)
The ages and genders of those two would make it unusual enough, Despite what the Danish Tourist Agency might like foreigners to believe, Denmark is not heaven-on-earth for the LGBT community. Legally and socially they are much better off here than in most places in the world, but there is still plenty of prejudice and even the occasional assault--so, no, passionate kissing in public on busy street corners in the middle of the afternoon is probably not on the recommended list of things to do here if you are gay.
But really, it isn't something on the recommended list if you are straight either. This is Scandinavia after all. Spectacles are just not the done thing. Even though Denmark is called the "Italy of Scandinavia*" by the other Scandinavian countries, I can probably count on one finger of one hand the number of "spectacles" I see on the street in a given year. I've seen little old ladies falling down unconscious on the sidewalk and people re-acting to the situation with outward displays of emotion that would be the envy of any poker player in the world.
That said, now that I think about it, I have to admit that the best sidewalk spectacle I've ever seen also occurred here. I was bicycling along, heading towards work, with the rest of the thundering hoard one morning (heard recently that 40% of Copenhagen's population commutes to work by bicycle--seems a rather high number to me, but the fellow talking appeared to know what he was talking about). Suddenly we all came to a screeching halt. There was a young woman screaming and hiding her face in her hands as here boyfriend strode around in front of her, waving his hands and loudly proclaiming to all and sundry how much he loved her and all the reasons why he thought she was just the most fantastic person in the world. This went on for a minute or so and when he was finished, all of us in their audience applauded politely, hopped back on our bicycles, and pedalled on our ways. And no, no marriage proposal. Marriage here tends to happen "at last" rather than "at first".
So its not that we can't do dramatic, its just that we just don't. Even the Gay Pride Parade is pretty damn sedate here.
*And for those that wonder why we are called the "Italy of Scandinavia", it is because we drink much more than the other countries, party more, are much less politically correct, do shout and wave our hands around more (as hard as it might be to believe that it happens less elsewhere)--and if you ever try to get something done on a deadline here, well, you can just forget it. What? Someone might get stressed, and you certainly wouldn't want that! Actually I think we put Southern Europe completely to shame when it comes to the "mañana" mentality.
The ages and genders of those two would make it unusual enough, Despite what the Danish Tourist Agency might like foreigners to believe, Denmark is not heaven-on-earth for the LGBT community. Legally and socially they are much better off here than in most places in the world, but there is still plenty of prejudice and even the occasional assault--so, no, passionate kissing in public on busy street corners in the middle of the afternoon is probably not on the recommended list of things to do here if you are gay.
But really, it isn't something on the recommended list if you are straight either. This is Scandinavia after all. Spectacles are just not the done thing. Even though Denmark is called the "Italy of Scandinavia*" by the other Scandinavian countries, I can probably count on one finger of one hand the number of "spectacles" I see on the street in a given year. I've seen little old ladies falling down unconscious on the sidewalk and people re-acting to the situation with outward displays of emotion that would be the envy of any poker player in the world.
That said, now that I think about it, I have to admit that the best sidewalk spectacle I've ever seen also occurred here. I was bicycling along, heading towards work, with the rest of the thundering hoard one morning (heard recently that 40% of Copenhagen's population commutes to work by bicycle--seems a rather high number to me, but the fellow talking appeared to know what he was talking about). Suddenly we all came to a screeching halt. There was a young woman screaming and hiding her face in her hands as here boyfriend strode around in front of her, waving his hands and loudly proclaiming to all and sundry how much he loved her and all the reasons why he thought she was just the most fantastic person in the world. This went on for a minute or so and when he was finished, all of us in their audience applauded politely, hopped back on our bicycles, and pedalled on our ways. And no, no marriage proposal. Marriage here tends to happen "at last" rather than "at first".
So its not that we can't do dramatic, its just that we just don't. Even the Gay Pride Parade is pretty damn sedate here.
*And for those that wonder why we are called the "Italy of Scandinavia", it is because we drink much more than the other countries, party more, are much less politically correct, do shout and wave our hands around more (as hard as it might be to believe that it happens less elsewhere)--and if you ever try to get something done on a deadline here, well, you can just forget it. What? Someone might get stressed, and you certainly wouldn't want that! Actually I think we put Southern Europe completely to shame when it comes to the "mañana" mentality.