Holstebro Pride marched through the center of the West Jutland city on Saturday, less than a year after its previous board collapsed in an internal conflict.
According to reporting by DR, the parade went ahead on September 12 in Holstebro, in Jutland. For a long time the event looked unlikely to happen at all.
A new board has replaced the old one, which fell apart. Jesper Linde Kjeldsen now chairs Holstebro Pride. As reported by DR, he said the main changes are internal, covering how the organization is structured and how early planning starts.
How the previous board fell apart
DR writes that in August of last year, seven former board members and volunteers sent a letter to the then chair, Lone Kjær Hein. The letter described backbiting, a lack of safety and, according to the signatories, a lack of financial transparency on her part.
Both Hein and the board subsequently withdrew from the work on the pride event, per DR. A new board was then put in place and managed to organize the parade within a few months.
Permits, police and suppliers
Kjeldsen told DR that the practical work involved contact with the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, PET, as well as the police and the municipality over permits. He also had to apply for funding, which he described as entirely new territory for him as an IT professional.
He said the tasks were interesting, but also a large job to coordinate. Understanding how that world works was part of the challenge, according to his account to DR.
Beyond the permits needed for a parade, the new board had to arrange contracts with food suppliers. On that point time was short, DR reports, because some of the previous suppliers had already committed themselves to other events.
Kjeldsen described the day as a celebration of diversity, saying that the rest of the year is a fight, while Saturday was for celebrating being able to be themselves. The banner was ready and the LGBTQ parade set out to make the city center festive again.
DR notes that the new chair had worked intensively to be ready in time. The organizers presented the event as a return after a period in which the pride hung by a thread.
