Denmark became the first country in the world to provide legal recognition for gay partnerships on October 1, 1989, and the BBC was on hand to film the ceremony - marking a day when "something changed in human relationships".
In 2024, that may not be anything special in many parts of the world, but in 1989, it was a leap straight into the unknown.
In May of that year, the Danish parliament passed a law that allowed gay people to officially register their partnerships.
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Five months later, 11 couples arrived dressed up and in suits at Copenhagen City Hall to take part in a civil ceremony the likes of which had never been seen before.
It wasn't exactly the same step as marriage, but it was a huge step for equality.
The idea itself was so unusual at the time that a BBC show on religion and ethics The crux of the matter was present to record all these ceremonies.
Joan Bakewell, the presenter of the show, summed up the entire debate: "The bottom line was that if one country stops seeing marriage as exclusively between a man and a woman, how does that affect the way the rest of us think about it? And if one country in Europe can pass such a law, won't it eventually affect Great Britain?"
It will take another 16 years for her second question to be answered.
The ceremony was in many ways like an ordinary wedding.
The couples entered a small room, and the mayor asked them if they wanted to enter into a partnership with each other.
The first couple to sign the bottom of the paper were Aksel and Ajgil Aksgil, who lived together for 41 years.
Veterans of gay rights activism have suffered discrimination and harassment in the past.
In 1948, the two - using their original names Aksel Lundal-Madsen and Ajgil Eskildsen - founded the Danish Gay and Lesbian Association.
Legal recognition of their partnership was long awaited.
When they joined the civil union, they mixed their names into a new surname, Aksgil.
Whether they say "I do" in a church, a town hall or a private room, it is a Christian marriage and God blesses it - Ivan Larsen
Another of the 11 couples who entered into a civil partnership that day were Ivan Larsen, an ordained minister of the Lutheran Church, and psychologist Ove Karlsen.
Larsen says he was very happy to be able to afford to "have the same feeling as everyone else getting married."
He told the BBC: "It was the first time in history that gays and lesbians were allowed - not to get married, because we weren't allowed to use the word 'marriage' - but we were allowed to register our partnerships with the same rights, except for a few things, that heterosexuals also have. It's a kind of marriage. This means that they recognize us not only as individuals, but also as couples. That was extraordinary."
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Civil partnerships differed from heterosexual marriage in three significant ways: at least one partner had to be a Danish citizen, couples were not allowed to adopt children, and the union could not be registered in the church.
As a priest, however, Larsen saw their union just like a traditional Christian marriage.
"I think that when two people fall in love with each other and they want to spend the rest of their lives together, then that is a marriage blessed by God. Whether they say "I do" in a church, a town hall, or a private room, it's a Christian marriage and God blesses it.
The AIDS crisis of the 1980s made same-sex partnerships a pressing issue, according to Dorte Jakobsen of the Danish Gay and Lesbian Association.
She said that when her organization offered to help the authorities reach out to gay men, "it really started a discussion among people in parliament."
She added: "It meant they started to understand the kind of life we led, and of course when you start talking to people, they get to know you a bit better. They find out you're not a pervert. They find you lead a very similar life to theirs."
Paving the way
For Theodore Jorgensen, professor of theology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark has taken a significant step in leading by example.
"Some companies have to take the first step and take that risk. All homosexuals from all countries of the world will turn to their own governments and say: 'Look what they did in Denmark - we should try the same thing here and what are your objections to that?'
Northern European countries have paved the way for the recognition of same-sex unions.
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Norway, Sweden and Iceland all adopted similar legislation to Denmark in 1996, while Finland followed suit six years later.
The Netherlands became the first country to offer full civil marriage rights to gay couples in 2001.
The UK held its first civil partnership ceremonies in 2005.
In 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is a legal right throughout the United States.
To date, there are 36 countries where same-sex marriage is legal.
At the end of the 1989 documentary, Blakewell noted:
"Something has changed in human relations. And it all started here, in Denmark, with a couple of couples one sunny Sunday in October, where marriage and partnerships now live side by side. The rest of the world is watching closely what's going on."
In 2012, Denmark went one step further and legalized gay marriage.
To celebrate the occasion, Larsen and Karlsen held a blessing of their community at the church.
Reflecting on all this in a 2014 interview with the BBC World Service, Larsen said that Denmark's legalization of same-sex partnerships had a huge impact on the normalization of gay relationships.
"Besides, sometimes I think they're so normal now that it's not even worth discussing," he laughed.
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