Church of Norway Delivers Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Shame, Great Harm and Pain’

Amid red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has caused the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, the church leader, announced on Thursday. “This should never have happened and which is the reason I apologise today.”

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

The apology occurred at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and injured nine people severely throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to at least 30 years in incarceration for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ individuals, preventing them to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to legalize same-sex partnerships during 1993 and by 2009 the first in Scandinavia to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples could marry in church since 2017. In 2023, Tveit joined in the Oslo Pride event in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited differing opinions. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, called it “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era in the church’s history”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “strong and important” but arrived “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have tried to reconcile for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. Last year, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, even as it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages in church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but held fast in the view that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, Canada's United Church issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, describing it as a confirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We did not manage to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, stated. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”