Church of Norway Makes Sincere Apology to LGBTQ+ Individuals for ‘Harm, Shame and Suffering’

Amid deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, the church leader, announced on Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why I apologise today.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in some to lose their faith, Tveit recognized. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to follow his apology.

The statement of regret took place at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to a minimum of three decades in prison for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, preventing them to become pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples during 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

Back in 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of homosexual ministers, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. During 2023, Tveit participated in the Oslo Pride event in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday was met with varied responses. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “an important reparation” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era within the church's past”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “strong and important” but arrived “not in time for those among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the crisis as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to reconcile for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. Last year, the Church of England said sorry for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, even as it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but held fast in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, the United Church of Canada offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.

“We have not succeeded to celebrate and delight in all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”