Norway's Church Delivers Sincere Apology to LGBTQ+ Individuals for ‘Shame, Great Harm and Pain’

Against deep red curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has brought the LGBTQ+ community pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to take place after his statement.

This formal apology occurred at the London Pub establishment, one among two bars targeted in the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years in prison for the murders.

Like many religions around the world, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to marry in church. In the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.

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

Back in 2007, Norway's church started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples were permitted to have church weddings from 2017 onward. Last year, Tveit participated in the Oslo Pride event in what was called an unprecedented step for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited differing opinions. The director of a group for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “an important reparation” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology represented “strong and important” but arrived “too late for those among us who died of Aids … with hearts filled with anguish since the church viewed the crisis as divine punishment”.

Internationally, several faith-based organizations have attempted to offer apologies for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, England's church expressed regret for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, even as it still declines to permit gay marriages in church.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and their families, but stayed firm in its belief that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We did not manage to rejoice and take pleasure in all of your beautiful creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, said. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”