Church of Norway Makes Sincere Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Pain, Shame and Significant Harm’

Set against deep red curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has inflicted the LGBTQ+ community harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, stated during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to follow his apology.

This formal apology occurred at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 attack that took two lives 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 carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ people, preventing them to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. During 2023, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as a first for the church.

Thursday’s apology received varied responses. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “represented the closure of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the statement was “strong and important” but arrived “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, several faith-based organizations have sought to offer apologies for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, the Church of England said sorry for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, although it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but remained staunch in the view 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 to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We did not manage to celebrate and delight in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have wounded people rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”