copenhagen denmark

The 2009 Outgames have begun, and they are “way out there” in all the ways that anyone can think of. First of all, it’s way out in Copenhagen, Denmark. 5,500 participants, 100 nations, and 30 events (traditional and improvised) have combined for nine days of sports and culture for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.

Legislation will be introduced early next year with the goal of allowing same-sex couples in Denmark to marry. According to the Copenhagen Post, the government plans to introduce a bill after the New Year that would allow same-sex couples, who are currently entitled to the civil status of “registered partnerships,” to hold weddings in the Church of Denmark and be considered “married” under the law.

While there was no systematic program for elimination of people of African descent in Nazi Germany as there was for Jews, the fate of black people from 1933 to 1945 in Nazi Germany and in German-occupied territories ranged from isolation, persecution, sterilization, medical experimentation,  incarceration, brutality and murder. On a return trip to  Europe after headlining at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, Valaida Snow was captured in Nazi- occupied  Copenhagen and interned in a concentration camp. It is rumored that Snow was sent to a concentration camp no only because she was black but also because of her friendships with German women musicians -- implying lesbianism.

Missing from the annals of African American history and the history of Nazi Germany are the documented stories and struggles of African Americans, straight and "queer." Valaida Snow, captured in Nazi- occupied Copenhagen under the umbrella of lesbian and interned in a concentration camp for nearly two years, is one such story forgotten every Black History Month in celebrating our heroes and survivors.