Norway's Church Makes Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Pain, Shame and Significant Harm’

Amid red stage curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, Norway's national church offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“The national church has caused the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, the church leader, announced during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and this is why I apologise today.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” led to some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.

The apology occurred at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 shooting that took two lives and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to no less than 30 years behind bars for the murders.

Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, refusing to allow them to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. In the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, emerging as the world's second to allow same-sex registered partnerships back in 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples could have church weddings since 2017. Last year, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret received a mixed reaction. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, called it “a crucial act of amends” and a moment that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian 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 … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to make amends for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, the Anglican Church apologised for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, even as it still declines to allow same-sex marriages in church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but held fast in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a partnership of one man and one woman.

Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, describing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all 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, said. “We caused pain to people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”