birth_place office birth_date term_start spouse article_title term_end name
vejle , denmark member for denmark of the folketing member of the european parliament november 6 , 1950 1981 1999 claus lautrup torben lund
 1998 2004 torben lund
torben lund

torben lund -lrb- born november 6 , 1950 in vejle -rrb- is a danish politician , who served in the folketing from 1981 to 1998 and in the european parliament from 1999 to 2004 .
he was associated with the danish social democrats in denmark , and the progressive alliance of socialists and democrats in the european parliament .
while sitting in the folketing , he was one of the sponsors of the 1989 legislation that first legalized registered partnership for same-sex couples .
he served as health minister in the poul nyrup rasmussen i cabinet from 1993 to 1994 .
he came out as gay in 1998 , becoming denmark 's first openly gay member of the folketing .
in 1999 , he married his partner claus lautrup .
after his retirement from politics , he joined the danish television network dk4 .
he remained active in the social democrats , but left the party in 2009 due to disagreements with the leadership of helle thorning-schmidt .
