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

Amid red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has brought LGBTQ+ people shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, announced during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and this is why I apologise today.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” resulted in a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was planned to come after the apology.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to at least 30 years behind bars for the killings.

Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, refusing to allow them to become pastors or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, church leaders characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships back in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and same-sex couples were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. In 2023, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called a first for the church.

The apology on Thursday was met with a mixed reaction. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the history of the church”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the director of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology was “powerful and significant” but was delivered “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts as the church regarded the crisis as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have tried to offer apologies for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Church of England expressed regret for what it characterized as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it persists in refusing to permit gay marriages in religious settings.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year issued an apology for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but remained staunch in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, Canada's United Church issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, labeling it a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”