Norway's Church Makes Sincere Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Shame, Great Harm and Pain’
Against deep red curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.
“Norway's church has brought LGBTQ+ people harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, the church leader, stated during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason I apologise today.”
The “discrimination, unequal treatment and harassment” led to a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to come after the apology.
The apology took place at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 shooting that took two lives and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to a minimum of three decades in prison for the murders.
Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them from joining the clergy or to marry in church. In 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 back in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.
During 2007, Norway's church began ordaining gay pastors, and LGBTQ+ partners could have church weddings from 2017 onward. In 2023, Tveit joined in the Oslo Pride event in what was called a first for the church.
Thursday’s apology was met with varied responses. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a painful era within the church's past”.
For Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “overdue for individuals among us who died of Aids … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the crisis as punishment from God”.
Globally, a few churches have attempted to make amends for their past behavior towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, even as it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages within the church.
Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church the previous year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but held fast in its belief that marriage could only be a union between a man and a woman.
Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.
“We did not manage to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We express our regret.”