Norway's Church Issues Formal Apology to LGBTQ+ Individuals for ‘Pain, Shame and Significant Harm’
Amid crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.
“The national church has caused the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Bishop Tveit, declared this Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why I offer my apology now.”
“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to come after the apology.
The apology occurred at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 violent incident that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to at least 30 years in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.
Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, refusing to allow them from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During 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 in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.
Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church began ordaining gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples could get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. During 2023, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.
Thursday’s apology elicited varied responses. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.
As stated by Stephen Adom, the director of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “not in time for those among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the epidemic as punishment from God”.
Globally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to make amends for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, the Church of England expressed regret for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, though it still declines to permit gay marriages within the church.
Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year expressed regret for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but stayed firm in its conviction that marriage could only be a union between a man and a woman.
Several months ago, Canada's United Church offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, labeling it a reaffirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.
“We did not manage to celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”