Viborg Pride was joined on Saturday by a group of priests from the Church of Denmark (Folkekirken), who left their traditional clerical robes at church and marched through the Danish city wearing black T-shirts with the word “priest” printed in rainbow colours. The clergy, from parishes in Struer, Viborg and Skive, said they wanted to support LGBTQ+ rights and show that the church should be open to people regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
Priests join Viborg Pride without their clerical robes
The group took part in the Viborg Pride parade on 22 August, which began at 11:00 at Banegårdspladsen before moving through the city towards De Frivilliges Hus, where the celebrations continued.
According to DR, the participating priests came from Struer, Viborg and Skive. Rather than wearing the black clerical robes traditionally associated with Danish Lutheran priests, they chose black T-shirts identifying them as priests in rainbow-coloured lettering.
Among them was Andreas Vinther Jensen, a priest from Skive Parish (Skive Sogn).
“There is a lot of work for the Church of Denmark to do to show that we are a home for all people, regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation,” he told DR.
The decision made their participation explicitly visible while distinguishing the Pride march from their liturgical role inside the church.
Support for LGBTQ+ people remains debated within the Church of Denmark
Vinther Jensen acknowledged that the priests’ participation could provoke criticism. He said he had already seen negative comments on Facebook about clergy publicly supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
“Of course, you have to listen to concerned voices, and I think it is important to engage in dialogue,” he said, adding that he was “not sure that the Facebook comments section is the right place to do it”.
The episode reflects a discussion that has existed for years within the Church of Denmark over LGBTQ+ inclusion. Denmark introduced same-sex marriage in the national church in 2012, making the Folkekirken one of the first churches in the world to do so.
Same-sex couples have the same right to a church wedding as different-sex couples, although individual priests can refuse to perform the ceremony for theological reasons. In those cases, another priest must be available to conduct it.
The church itself has also increasingly discussed how to make religious spaces more welcoming for LGBTQ+ people. Folkekirken has previously highlighted the experiences of queer people who have felt excluded from church communities despite changes such as the introduction of same-sex marriage.
A small Pride in central Jutland
Viborg Pride has been organised annually since 2021 and focuses on LGBTQ+ rights and visibility outside Denmark’s largest cities. This year’s organisers expected between 100 and 150 participants, according to Viborg Stifts Folkeblad as reported by DR.
The event forms part of a wider network of Pride celebrations across Denmark, but on a considerably smaller scale than events in Copenhagen and other major cities. Its organisers describe it as both a celebration and a way of creating a visible LGBTQ+ community in a smaller Danish city.
For the priests who joined Saturday’s march, that local dimension was also part of the message. Their participation placed the Church of Denmark directly within a public event centred on LGBTQ+ rights, while the reactions surrounding it showed that the relationship between religion, sexuality and gender identity continues to generate debate even within one of Europe’s more institutionally inclusive national churches.
