Norway's Church Makes Formal Apology to LGBTQ+ People for ‘Pain, Shame and Significant Harm’
Against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.
“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Olav Fykse Tveit, stated during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why I offer my apology now.”
“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in some to lose their faith, Tveit recognized. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to follow his apology.
This formal apology was delivered at the London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.
Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, the church’s bishops 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 during 1993 and during 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.
Back in 2007, Norway's church started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to have church weddings since 2017. Last year, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.
The apology on Thursday was met with differing opinions. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and an occasion that “finally marked the end of a painful era in the church’s history”.
According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “powerful and significant” but was delivered “too late for those among us who died of Aids … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the crisis to be God’s punishment”.
Internationally, a few churches have attempted to reconcile for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. Last year, the Anglican Church apologised for what it described as “shameful” actions, though it still declines to permit gay marriages in church.
Similarly, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year expressed regret for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but held fast in its conviction that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.
Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, labeling it a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.
“We have failed to celebrate and delight in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, said. “We have hurt individuals in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”
