Norway's Church Issues Sincere Apology to LGBTQ+ Individuals for ‘Harm, Shame and Suffering’

Against deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway offered an apology for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, stated during a Thursday event. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why I apologise today.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at Oslo Cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.

The statement of regret took place at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. In the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to allow same-sex registered partnerships back in 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

During 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples could marry in church from 2017 onward. Last year, Tveit participated in the Pride march in Oslo in what was noted as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret received varied responses. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “an important reparation” and a moment that “represented the closure of a painful era within the church's past”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “strong and important” but was delivered “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, a few churches have attempted to offer apologies for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. Last year, England's church apologised for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, although it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages within the church.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” to LGBTQ+ people and their families, but remained staunch in the view that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, Canada's United Church issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.

“We did not manage to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, said. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”