The Norwegian Church Makes Formal Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Harm, Shame and Suffering’

Set against red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ people harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” had caused a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to follow his apology.

The apology was delivered at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 attack that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to no less than 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is Norway’s largest faith community – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ individuals, preventing them from serving as pastors or to marry in church. During the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships during 1993 and in 2009 the first in Scandinavia to legalize same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to have church weddings since 2017. During 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called a first for the church.

Thursday’s apology received varied responses. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “strong and important” but was delivered “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the epidemic as divine punishment”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to offer apologies for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, the Church of England said sorry for what it described as “shameful” actions, though it still declines to allow same-sex marriages in church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but remained staunch in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a partnership of one man and one woman.

Several months ago, Canada's United Church offered an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a reaffirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We did not manage to celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”