Norway's Church Makes Sincere Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Harm, Shame and Suffering’
Set against red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church issued a formal apology for discrimination and harm caused by the church.
“The church in Norway has brought LGBTQ+ people pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why I apologise today.”
“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to follow his apology.
The apology occurred at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.
In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, preventing them from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a global-scale societal hazard”.
But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships during 1993 and in 2009 the first in Scandinavia to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.
In 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing homosexual ministers, and same-sex couples could marry in church from 2017 onward. In 2023, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.
Thursday’s apology received varied responses. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, called it “an important reparation” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the history of the church”.
For Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “strong and important” but had come “overdue for individuals who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the epidemic as punishment from God”.
Internationally, several faith-based organizations have tried to reconcile for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Church of England said sorry for what it described as “shameful” actions, though it persists in refusing to permit gay marriages within the church.
Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland in the past year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but stayed firm in its conviction that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.
Several months ago, Canada's United Church delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.
“We have failed to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”