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

Set against deep red curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Norwegian Lutheran Church offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ people shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, the church leader, declared this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A church service at Oslo Cathedral was arranged to take place after his statement.

The apology occurred at the London Pub establishment, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to at least 30 years in incarceration for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, refusing to allow them from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to allow same-sex registered partnerships back in 1993 and during 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing gay pastors, and LGBTQ+ partners could marry in church from 2017 onward. In 2023, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret received a mixed reaction. The director of a group for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “an important reparation” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “powerful and significant” but had come “overdue for individuals who lost their lives to AIDS … carrying heavy hearts because the church considered the crisis as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have sought to make amends for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, although it still declines to permit gay marriages within the church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year apologised for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but held fast in its conviction that marriage could only be a union between a man and a woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church of Canada offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, labeling it a confirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”