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

Set against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has brought the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Olav Fykse Tveit, announced during a Thursday event. “This ought not to have occurred and that is why I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was planned to follow his apology.

This formal apology occurred at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 attack that killed two people and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years in incarceration for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

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

Back in 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. In 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as an unprecedented step for the church.

The apology on Thursday received differing opinions. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, described it as “an important reparation” and a moment that “represented the closure of a painful era in the church’s history”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “powerful and significant” but arrived “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the epidemic as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to offer apologies for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. Last year, the Church of England apologised for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, even as it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.

Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but stayed firm in the view that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”