Hans Christian Andersen Pride celebration proposed

Denmark is debating a proposal from a member of parliament to celebrate LGBT Pride with a festival honoring Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen, according to the U.K. Telegraph.

MP Trine Bramsen, a Social Democrat from Funen, Andersen’s hometown, made the proposal.

Bramsen said, “There is so much palaver about Hans Christian Andersen’s sexuality, and I think we should use it.

“It should be a week where gays from all over the world can come to the island of Funen.”

One political opponent, according to the Telegraph, called the suggestion silly and others wondered – was Andersen gay or bisexual?

Vivi Jelstrup, of the Danish Gay and Lesbian association, commented, “To my knowledge, Andersen was not homosexual, but bisexual. It appears from his diaries that he alternately fell in love with men and women.”

In an 1835 letter to friend Edvard Collin, Andersen wrote, “I long for you as though you were a beautiful Calabrian girl.”

In an 1847 letter to Grand Duke of Weimar, he wrote, “On that cool evening, when you took your cloak and threw it around me, it warmed not only my body, but made my heart glow still more ardently.”