LGBT+ Danmark has named Astrid Højgaard, a specialist in gynecology and obstetrics, as this year’s recipient of the Årets Laks award. The association says she has brought about a paradigm shift in how the Danish health system views transgender patients.
The prize was handed out for the 24th time, according to Avisen Danmark, which published a Ritzau report on the award early on August 13, 2026. LGBT+ Danmark is described as a political association for homosexual, bisexual and transgender people, and others who break with norms for gender and sexuality.
Per the association’s own reasoning, Årets Laks, which translates as Salmon of the Year, goes to people and organizations that dare to swim against the current. In the citation for this year’s award, LGBT+ Danmark states that Højgaard has carried out a paradigm shift in the health system’s view of transgender patients. The report does not include further details about a ceremony.
Højgaard also appears on the association’s list of recent winners for 2025, recognized for what LGBT+ Danmark calls pioneering work to change both attitudes toward and the treatment of transgender people in the health service. Her field, gynecology and obstetrics, sits close to the reproductive and inclusive care debates that have shaped several earlier awards.
Earlier recipients
The 2024 award went to members of the Folketing Sólbjørg Rasmussen of Liberal Alliance and Christina Olumeko of Alternativet, together with activist Helene Lykke. According to the list published by LGBT+ Danmark, they were recognized for their work to make partner egg donation legal in Denmark.
In 2023, the prize went to employees at the biotech company Chr. Hansen, who protested management’s removal of visible support for Copenhagen Pride. The association notes that 400 staff signed a protest letter. The 2022 award went to Søren Juliussen and the other backers of the citizens’ proposal to recognize co-fatherhood in rainbow families, which the Folketing later adopted.
Former national men’s football coach Kasper Hjulmand received the award in 2021 for defending LGBT+ rights, including his criticism of UEFA after the federation barred a stadium from being lit in rainbow colors. LGBT Asylum was honored in 2020 for helping LGBT+ refugees with asylum, networks and support in Denmark.
The organization FSTB, which supports transgender children and advises parents, won in 2019. Author Leonora Christina Skov received it in 2018 for her autobiographical novel “Den, der lever stille,” and the Norwegian youth series “Skam” was recognized in 2017.
The 2016 award went to the Folketing’s Health and Elderly Affairs Committee for its decision to remove transgender identity from the section on mental illnesses. The full list of recipients is sourced to LGBT+ Danmark.
