Torben Lund Torben Lund Torben Lund (born November 6, 1950 in Vejle) 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,
Folketing led a centre-right minority government consisting of the Liberal Party (Venstre) and the Conservative People's Party. This coalition government worked with regular parliamentary support from the national conservative Danish People's Party and often gained the necessary 90th seat for majority in the Folketing through negotiations with either the sole MP from the Christian Democrats, Ørum-Jørgensen or another MP outside parties, Christmas Møller, both elected in 2007 as conservative MPs and having defected since then. Since the 2007 elections, the Liberal Alliance (previously Ny Alliance) have gained momentum in opinion polls, and since early 2010, the governing coalition have not been