City delays decision on naming square after gay rights activist

Council spokesperson acknowledges that a 50-year-old sex scandal was part of the reason that decision on Axel Axgils Plads has not been reached

The city's technical and environmental administration department decided last night to delay a decision on naming a square after gay rights activist Axel Axgil. In a press release, the department said that it had received a new enquiry from an affected neighbour to the square and that a final decision would be put off until that enquiry was addressed. The department provided no details on what the enquiry entailed or when a decision would be made.

However, a council spokesperson told The Copenhagen Post that the controversy surrounding a 1955 police case against Axgil on charges of pornography is likely the reason that some people are against naming the square after him.

According to reporting by the Aarhus-based website Proud!, the police investigation discovered nude photos possessed and sold by Axgil and his partner Eigil that included images of underage male prostitutes. Axel and Eigil were both eventually found guilty and sentenced to jail on pornography charges and were both found to have had sex with underage prostitutes, though Axgil maintained that it was only Eigil who had sex with them. Axel Axgil did, however, later express sympathy with paedophiles and even joined an organisation dedicated to paedophilia. 





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