The Norwegian Church Delivers Sincere Apology to LGBTQ+ Community for ‘Harm, Shame and Suffering’
Set against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway expressed regret for discrimination and harm caused by the church.
“The national church has brought LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, stated on Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why I apologise today.”
“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to come after the apology.
This formal apology was delivered at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars involved in the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and injured nine people severely during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the murders.
Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, preventing them from joining the clergy or to marry in church. In the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.
Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.
In 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. Last year, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.
The Thursday statement of regret was met with varied responses. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a difficult period in the church’s history”.
According to Stephen Adom, the director of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but arrived “too late for those among us who died of Aids … carrying heavy hearts since the church viewed the disease to be God’s punishment”.
Worldwide, a few churches have attempted to make amends for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it referred to as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.
Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but held fast in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a partnership of one man and one woman.
Several months ago, the United Church of Canada offered an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.
“We have failed to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We apologize.”