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

Set against deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“Norway's church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, the church leader, declared during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why I offer my apology now.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to take place after his statement.

The apology took place at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars involved in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and injured nine people severely throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ individuals, preventing them from joining the clergy or to marry in church. During the 1950s, bishops of the church characterized LGBTQ+ persons as a “social danger of global proportions”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships during 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing gay pastors, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday received a mixed reaction. The director of a group for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, referred to it as “an important reparation” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the church’s history”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “strong and important” but was delivered “overdue for individuals who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the disease as punishment from God”.

Globally, a few churches have tried to offer apologies for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Church of England apologised for what it described as “shameful” actions, though it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but remained staunch in its belief that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, labeling it a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We did not manage to celebrate and delight in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We apologize.”