Norway's Church Makes Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Harm, Shame and Suffering’
Set against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.
“The national church has brought LGBTQ+ people pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated this Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why I offer my apology now.”
“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” had caused some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to come after the apology.
This formal apology was delivered at the London Pub establishment, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 shooting that took two lives and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years in incarceration for the killings.
Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to marry in church. In the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.
Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples during 1993 and during 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.
During 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples could marry in church starting in 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as a first for the church.
Thursday’s apology received varied responses. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a crucial act of amends” and a moment that “represented the closure of a difficult period in the history of the church”.
According to Stephen Adom, the head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but had come “too late for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the disease as divine punishment”.
Internationally, several faith-based organizations have tried to make amends for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. In 2023, the Church of England apologised for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, although it still declines to permit gay marriages in religious settings.
Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church last year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and family members, but stayed firm in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.
Earlier this year, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, describing it as a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.
“We have not succeeded to celebrate and delight in all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, said. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”