Yvonne Herløv Andersen (born 1942) is a Danish former politician. She left parliament in 2001. A

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

and

school principal A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the teacher, staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. Role ...

by profession, Herløv Andersen was present at the founding of the Centre Democrats in 1973, though initially in a background role, serving as assistant to party leader

Erhard Jakobsen Erhard is a male German given name and surname, and may refer to: People *Erhard of Regensburg, bishop of Regensburg in the 7th century *Erhard Altdorfer (c. 1480–1561), German Early Renaissance printmaker, painter and architect *Erhard Arnold Ju ...

, and in other internal party positions. She was elected to the

Folketing The Folketing ( , ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark — Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands and Greenland. E ...

(Danish parliament) in 1977 from

Sorø Sorø () is a town in Sorø municipality on the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand in east Denmark with a population of 8,433 (2025).

, serving until 1979, again from 1981 to 1984 from

Slagelse Slagelse () is a town on Zealand (Denmark), Zealand, Denmark. The town is the seat of Slagelse Municipality, and is the biggest town of the municipality. It is located 15 km east of Korsør, 16 km north-east of Skælskør, 33 km south-east of Ka ...

, and from 1987 to 1988 from

Odense Odense ( , , ) is the third largest city in Denmark (after Copenhagen and Aarhus) and the largest city on the island of Funen. As of 1 January 2025, the city proper had a population of 185,480 while Odense Municipality had a population of 210, ...

. In 1994 she was appointed Social Minister in the first Nyrup Rasmussen cabinet. She subsequently served as

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

in the second Nyrup Rasmussen cabinet, from 1994 to 1996, where she focused particularly on reform of

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

policy, and compensation for previous mistreatment of

hemophiliacs Haemophilia (British English), or hemophilia (American English) (), is a mostly inherited genetic disorder that impairs the body's ability to make blood clots, a process needed to stop bleeding. This results in people bleeding for a long ...

. She was

outed Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBTQ person's sexual orientation or gender identity without their consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia, biphobia, and/or transphobia in order to discredit politi ...

as a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

in 1996 by Palle Juul-Jensen, the former head of the

National Board of Health The National Board of Health (NBH) was a short lived institution that operated from 1879 to 1883 in the United States. It was created during the third Session of the 45th Congress, listed as chapter 202 better known as the Public Health Act of 187 ...

, who had clashed with Herløv Anderson and her predecessor

Torben Lund Torben Lund (born 6 November 1950 in Vejle) is a Denmark, Danish politician, who served in the Folketing from 1981 to 1998"Torben Lund har forladt Socialdemokratiet". dr.dk, August 22, 2009. and in the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004. He was ...

over

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

policy, leading to Juul-Jensen's forced resignation in 1995. In his memoir, Juul-Jensen asked what would have been different if "the two latest Ministers of Health, not only politically but personally, had another relationship to the National Union for Gays and Lesbians". Herløv Anderson and Lund thereafter acknowledged their sexual orientations, becoming the first openly gay members of the Danish parliament. She married a man named Arne Knood Andersen in 1963 and divorced him in 1968, she has two children with him. She entered into a

registered partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with chi ...

with her partner Pirthe Merete Smedegaard Knudsen since 1990, they married later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herlov Andersen, Yvonne 1942 births Living people Centre Democrats (Denmark) politicians Members of the Folketing Government ministers of Denmark Danish LGBTQ politicians Danish lesbians Women government ministers of Denmark Women members of the Folketing Health ministers of Denmark LGBTQ legislators 20th-century Danish women politicians 21st-century Danish women politicians People from Sorø Municipality