LAGOS, Nigeria(VOICE OF NAIJA) – The Church of Norway on Thursday publicly apologized to the LGBTQ community inside a gay bar once targeted in a terror attack, marking a dramatic shift in tone from decades of discrimination to open remorse.
At Oslo’s iconic London Pub, a landmark venue for Norway’s LGBTQ community, Presiding Bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, delivered an emotional apology on behalf of the Church of Norway.
“The Church inflicted shame, serious harm, and pain on gay people. To them I say today, I’m sorry,” Tveit said, standing on the very stage where many once feared judgment rather than compassion.
The apology comes after decades of institutional exclusion. In the 1950s, the Church labeled homosexuality a “global social danger” and condemned same-sex acts as “perverse.” For many in the LGBTQ community, these views resulted in profound spiritual and emotional damage, some even losing their faith altogether.
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While the Church of Norway has gradually embraced a more inclusive stance, permitting gay pastors since 2007 and blessing same-sex unions since 2017, activists say the apology, though meaningful, is overdue.
“It comes too late for those of us who died of AIDS with hearts filled with anguish. At that time, the Church treated the epidemic like divine punishment,” Head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, Stephen Adom said.
The symbolic event was matched with an even deeply symbolic location. The London Pub was one of two LGBTQ bars attacked during Oslo’s Pride weekend in June 2022, where a shooting left two people dead and nine injured. The assailant, who had pledged allegiance to ISIS, was later sentenced to 30 years in prison for terrorism.
Tveit, who marched in Oslo Pride for the first time in 2023, has become a surprising figure of progress within the Church. According to a recent poll by the Opinion Institute, 65 percent of Norwegians agreed it was “high time” the Church issued an apology.
Protestant denominations in countries like England and Canada have made similar gestures in recent years, reflecting a wider global trend of religious institutions confronting their historic roles in LGBTQ marginalization.
Notably, as churches around the world face growing pressure to align with modern values, the Church of Norway’s apology at London Pub may mark more than a symbolic gesture, it could represent a turning point in the relationship between faith and queer identity in one of Europe’s most progressive nations.
