The Norwegian Church Makes Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Shame, Great Harm and Pain’

Against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, the church leader, stated during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why today I say sorry.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” led to some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to follow his apology.

The statement of regret took place at the London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 attack that killed two people and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to no less than 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 the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, becoming the second in the world to legalize same-sex partnerships during 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples were permitted to marry in church from 2017 onward. In 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret received varied responses. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a painful era within the church's past”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “strong and important” but was delivered “too late 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 make amends for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. Last year, the Church of England expressed regret for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, even as it still declines to permit gay marriages within the church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year issued an apology for its “failures in pastoral support and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but stayed firm in the view that marriage should only represent a union between a man and a woman.

Several months ago, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have not succeeded to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”