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

Set against red stage curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has caused the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, announced during a Thursday event. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason I apologise today.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to come after the apology.

This formal apology was delivered at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that took two lives and injured nine people severely during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years in prison for the murders.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, church leaders characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a worldwide social threat”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and by 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to have church weddings starting in 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.

The apology on Thursday elicited a mixed reaction. The head of a network of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a painful era within the church's past”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but had come “overdue for individuals who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the crisis as divine punishment”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to offer apologies for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. In 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, though it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year issued an apology for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but stayed firm in its conviction that marriage could only be a union between a man and a woman.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have wounded people in place of fostering completeness. We apologize.”