Church of Norway Makes Sincere Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Shame, Great Harm and Pain’

Amid red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ individuals shame, great harm and pain,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, declared on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at Oslo Cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.

The apology took place at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars involved in the 2022 attack that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or to marry in church. During the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and during 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining homosexual ministers, and same-sex couples have been able to marry in church since 2017. Last year, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as an unprecedented step for the church.

The apology on Thursday elicited differing opinions. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, called it “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “too late for those among us who died of Aids … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the disease as divine punishment”.

Globally, several faith-based organizations have sought to make amends for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. In 2023, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it referred to as “disgraceful” conduct, though it persists in refusing to permit gay marriages within the church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” to LGBTQ+ people and their relatives, but stayed firm in the view that marriage should only represent a union between a man and a woman.

Several months ago, the United Church of Canada issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a confirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”