Editorial

First and foremost,

Welcome to the third edition of HeartCore – The Official Copenhagen Pride Magazine. Our theme for this edition is FIRSTS.

Firsts are often viewed as special, memorable, or magical. First steps, first kiss, first dance. In this edition of HeartCore, we want to delve deeper into what can be included within the concept of firsts.

The first official Pride in Denmark was the 1996 EuroPride in Copenhagen, when the city was the European Capital of Culture. As you can see from our front cover, while some things looked quite different, many more things look familiar to us. As far as we have come, both as a society and a community, there are some aspects of that very first time that have persisted and that shape our celebrations and our battles today. We have several people on board at Copenhagen Pride who were barely walking in 1996, and with that in mind, looking back has become all the more important – to realize how we got to be where we are today.

Not too long ago, we were celebrating our very own first: the launch of this magazine, and our first experience of the possibilities and challenges of creating an LGBTI+ publication for and by the community. While HeartCore is not yet at an age which lends itself to reminiscing, it is still both joyful and nerve-wracking to look back on how the magazine has grown, and is continuing to grow, from the first seed that was planted.

We invited our writers to interpret the theme of firsts broadly and in a way that is not limited to the notion of time. You can read about what the idea of firsts means to different people in our community, from a personal account of a woman’s first year living with her true gender identity, to the first Pride celebration on the Western coast of Jutland and what that means to the local LGBTI+ community. We have spoken to board members of Denmark’s first intersectional folk high school and met organizers trying to break down norms in a time of online community – and so much more.

It is, once more, time for Winter Pride Week – a celebration that brings us all indoors and close to one another (if only in spirit) and allows us to seek insights into the different lives we live under the rainbow acronym. Find the full program for Winter Pride Week right here in the magazine and become inspired by the many human rights and culture events.

As always, HeartCore comes with an open invitation for you to reach out to us with any story, idea, or vision you might want to bring to these pages. We have a team of dedicated and talented writers, copyeditors, translators, photographers, and graphic artists, and we want to amplify as many voices as we can with our platform.

Happy reading!

• The editorial staff of HeartCore