The Norwegian Church Makes Sincere Apology to LGBTQ+ Individuals for ‘Shame, Great Harm and Pain’
Amid deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway expressed regret for discrimination and harm caused by the church.
“The church in Norway has inflicted the LGBTQ+ community pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, declared this Thursday. “This should never have happened and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”
“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to take place after his statement.
The statement of regret took place at the London Pub, one among two bars involved in the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to no less than 30 years in prison for the killings.
Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, refusing to allow them from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.
But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, becoming the second in the world to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and by 2009 the first in Scandinavia to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.
In 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as a first for the church.
The apology on Thursday received a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, 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 within the church's past”.
According to Stephen Adom, the head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “powerful and significant” but was delivered “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the epidemic to be God’s punishment”.
Globally, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to make amends for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, England's church apologised for what it referred to as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.
In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year issued an apology for its “failures in pastoral support and care” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but stayed firm in the view that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.
In the early part of this year, the United Church of Canada issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as 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 rejoice and take pleasure in all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”