Norway's Church Delivers Formal Apology to LGBTQ+ Community for ‘Harm, Shame and Suffering’

Amid crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, Norway's national church issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ people harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, the church leader, announced during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why today I say sorry.”

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

This formal apology took place at the London Pub establishment, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to no less than 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. In 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

Thursday’s apology elicited varied responses. The director of a group for Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, called it “an important reparation” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period in the church’s history”.

For Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “strong and important” but was delivered “not in time for those among us who died of Aids … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the crisis as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a few churches have sought to offer apologies for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. In 2023, the Church of England apologised for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, although it persists in refusing to permit gay marriages in church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland in the past year expressed regret for its “failures in pastoral support and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their families, but held fast in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have not succeeded to celebrate and delight in all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”