Norway's Church Makes Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Pain, Shame and Significant Harm’
Amid deep red curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for discrimination and harm it had inflicted.
“The church in Norway has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, announced during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why I offer my apology now.”
“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit recognized. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was planned to follow his apology.
This formal apology took place at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison for carrying out the attacks.
Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.
However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, ranking as the second globally to allow same-sex registered partnerships back in 1993 and by 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the church slowly followed.
Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples could get married in religious ceremonies from 2017 onward. Last year, Tveit participated in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.
The apology on Thursday elicited varied responses. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a crucial act of amends” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.
As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “strong and important” but had come “too late for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.
Internationally, a few churches have sought to reconcile for their actions regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. Last year, the Anglican Church apologised for what it described as “shameful” actions, even as it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages within the church.
Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year issued an apology for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but remained staunch in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a union between a man and a woman.
Earlier this year, Canada's United Church offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a confirmation 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 all of your beautiful creation,” Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”