The Norwegian Church Issues Formal Apology to LGBTQ+ Individuals for ‘Shame, Great Harm and Pain’
Set against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.
“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ people shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, declared during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”
“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused certain individuals abandoning their faith, the bishop admitted. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to follow his apology.
The apology occurred at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 attack that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to a minimum of three decades in incarceration for the killings.
Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ people, refusing to allow them to become pastors or to marry in church. In the 1950s, the church’s bishops referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.
Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.
In 2007, Norway's church began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners have been able to get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. In 2023, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as a first for the church.
Thursday’s apology received differing opinions. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “an important reparation” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.
According to Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “strong and important” but had come “overdue for individuals among us who died of Aids … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the crisis as punishment from God”.
Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to make amends for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, England's church apologised for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, even as it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages within the church.
In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but held fast in its belief that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.
Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, labeling it a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.
“We have failed to celebrate and delight in all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”
