Many people would agree with Torben Vegener Hansen's views on sex: "It makes me feel good. It makes me more dynamic. Having sex is as important as food."
But it is his insistence that sex is "a human right" that has led him into a legal battle with his government.
Vegener Hansen, 59, who has cerebral palsy, is fighting to force the Danish state to subsidize visits to his home by prostitutes in the same way they would pay for a meals-on-wheels service.
"Denmark's social law provides for me to be compensated for the expenses I incur because of my handicap," he said. "It should therefore cover my right to a sex life."
Vegener Hansen, a former social worker, lives alone in an adapted one-bedroom flat. He travels about Aarhus city center using an electric wheelchair. The local council pays for him to receive 37 hours' practical help every week. His speech is impaired but he uses the phone and Internet.
"I need to have sex to feel like a normal human being," he says over coffee and biscuits. "I have a girlfriend at the moment so I do not need to see prostitutes. But if I didn't have Vivia I would want sex at least twice a month."
Because prostitution is legal in Denmark, Vegener Hansen argues his local authority unfairly made a moral judgment when it rejected his application for financial support to bring prostitutes to his flat.
Since 2001, Denmark's social service guidelines on disability have stipulated that care staff in institutions must be prepared to help disabled people obtain sex. That includes accompanying them to a prostitute.
Arranging sex is part of the job for staff at the Hulegaarden residential home for mental disability near Copenhagen. Its director, Lars Nielsen, said: "We have many hours of discussion, in groups, before actually doing so. It is clear that there is no human being who is not also a sexual being. If we do not allow disabled people to have the experience of sex, we cannot expect them to build up their lives."
But Nielsen is uncomfortable about Vegener Hansen's campaign because it affects two marginalized groups, prostitutes and disabled people.
Vegener Hansen's 46-year-old girlfriend Vivia, who does not want to reveal her surname, opposes him.
"I think it is important that the sex lives of disabled people be discussed," she said. "But I am against all forms of prostitution and think that, sometimes, you have to accept your destiny."
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number