Norway's Church Makes Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Pain, Shame and Significant Harm’
Amid red stage curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, Norway's national church offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.
“The church in Norway has brought LGBTQ+ people pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, announced on Thursday. “This should never have happened and this is why today I say sorry.”
The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” led to a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A religious service at Oslo Cathedral was scheduled to take place after his statement.
The statement of regret took place at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years in prison for the murders.
Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or to marry in church. During the 1950s, church leaders characterized LGBTQ+ persons as a “social danger of global proportions”.
Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships during 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.
In 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church began ordaining gay pastors, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to have church weddings since 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as a first for the church.
The apology on Thursday received varied responses. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter within the church's past”.
As stated by Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “powerful and significant” but arrived “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the epidemic to be God’s punishment”.
Globally, a few churches have sought to offer apologies for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Church of England said sorry for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, although it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.
Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but stayed firm in its belief that marriage could only be a union between a man and a woman.
Several months ago, Canada's United Church offered an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.
“We have failed to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We have wounded people in place of fostering completeness. We apologize.”
