Norway's Church Delivers Formal Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Shame, Great Harm and Pain’

Set against red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals shame, great harm and pain,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, stated during a Thursday event. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to come after the apology.

This formal apology was delivered at the London Pub establishment, one among two bars targeted in the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to no less than 30 years in prison for the killings.

Similar to numerous global faiths, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ people, refusing to allow them from joining the clergy or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to allow same-sex registered partnerships in 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to marry in church starting in 2017. Last year, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

Thursday’s apology received differing opinions. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the church’s history”.

According to Stephen Adom, the head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “powerful and significant” but arrived “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts as the church regarded the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to make amends for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. In 2023, England's church expressed regret for what it described as “shameful” actions, though it persists in refusing to permit gay marriages in religious settings.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year apologised for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but stayed firm in the view that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, labeling it a reaffirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, stated. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We express our regret.”