Church of Norway Issues Formal Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Harm, Shame and Suffering’

Against deep red curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.

“The national church has caused LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, declared during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why I apologise today.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at Oslo Cathedral was planned to come after the apology.

This formal apology occurred at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two attacked during the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to a minimum of three decades in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, refusing to allow them from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples have been able to marry in church from 2017 onward. In 2023, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.

Thursday’s apology elicited a mixed reaction. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the statement was “meaningful and vital” but arrived “too late for those who lost their lives to AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, a few churches have tried to make amends for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, the Church of England apologised for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, although it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland in the past year apologised for its “failures in pastoral support and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but stayed firm in its conviction that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a renewed commitment of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in every part of the church's activities.

“We did not manage to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, said. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”