Danish gay rights pioneer Axel Axgil, who helped make Denmark the first country to legalize same-sex marriage, has died at 96.

Axgil helped found one of Europe's oldest gay rights groups in 1948.

Through the group's non-stop efforts, Denmark became the first country in the world to legalize civil unions between homosexuals in 1989 — a move that gives gay couples the same civil and legal rights as heterosexual couples. Axgil and his partner were the first of 11 couples to enter into a civil union in Denmark.

Axgil passed away in Copenhagen on Saturday.