Norway's Church Makes Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Harm, Shame and Suffering’
Against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway offered an apology for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.
“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated during a Thursday event. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why I apologise today.”
The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” resulted in certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit recognized. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to take place after his statement.
The apology occurred at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to at least 30 years behind bars for the killings.
Like many religions around the world, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ people, preventing them from joining the clergy or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as a “social danger of global proportions”.
But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.
In 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and same-sex couples could get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. Last year, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as a first for the church.
The Thursday statement of regret elicited differing opinions. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, called it “a crucial act of amends” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era in the church’s history”.
According to Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “strong and important” but was delivered “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the disease as divine punishment”.
Globally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to reconcile for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, the Church of England apologised for what it characterized as “disgraceful” conduct, though it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages within the church.
Likewise, the Methodist Church in Ireland last year issued an apology for its “failures in pastoral support and care” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but stayed firm in its belief that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.
In the early part of this year, the United Church of Canada issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, describing 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,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We apologize.”
