Church of Norway Makes Apology to LGBTQ+ Individuals for ‘Shame, Great Harm and Pain’

Set against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, Norway's national church expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“Norway's church has caused LGBTQ+ people harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, Bishop Tveit, declared during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” resulted in some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to take place after his statement.

The apology took place at the London Pub, one of two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that killed two people and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years in incarceration 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 – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them from joining the clergy or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples during 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

In 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church began ordaining homosexual ministers, and gay and lesbian couples could marry in church starting in 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.

The apology on Thursday was met with a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, called it “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but arrived “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, a few churches have sought to reconcile for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Church of England expressed regret for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, although it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but stayed firm in its conviction that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, Canada's United Church delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”