LGBTQ+ rights in Norway have changed dramatically in just over fifty years: from sex between men being a criminal offence until 1972, to same-sex marriage and broad protection against discrimination today. Norway is now regarded as one of the world's most open countries for queer people, but acceptance came gradually.
This article gives a short overview of the key milestones in LGBTQ+ history in Norway – from prohibition and persecution to full legal equality – and of how accepted queer people are in society today.
LGBTQ+ rights in Norway before 1972: prohibition and secrecy
Until 1972, sexual relations between men were illegal in Norway. Section 213 of the Penal Code from 1902 – often called the "homosexuality paragraph" – carried a penalty of up to one year in prison. In its final decades the provision was rarely enforced, but it hung as a threat over gay men and fuelled shame and secrecy. Lesbian women were never mentioned in the law, yet lived under the same social stigma.
Organised activism began in 1950, when the Norwegian Association of 1948 (DNF-48) was founded on 20 May as the country's first organisation for gay people. For decades it campaigned to repeal Section 213 and slowly built a public debate about the conditions gay people lived under. Norway was among the last countries in Western Europe still to have such a ban.
Decriminalisation in 1972 and the world's first anti-discrimination protection
On 21 April 1972 the Storting (parliament) repealed Section 213. Sex between men was no longer a crime, and this marks the start of the modern struggle for LGBTQ+ rights in Norway. A few years later the medical stigma also fell: in 1977 Norwegian psychologists stopped classifying homosexuality as an illness, and the health authorities followed in 1982.
In 1981 Norway took a historic step and became the first country in the world to enshrine protection against discrimination and hate speech based on sexual orientation (Penal Code Sections 135a and 349a). This gave gay people legal protection as a group, not only as individuals. Today this protection is carried forward in the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act and in the Penal Code's provision on hate speech.
Partnership, marriage and the right to family
The next major step was the right to live as a couple with legal recognition. With the Partnership Act of 30 April 1993, Norway became the second country in the world – after Denmark – to introduce registered partnership for same-sex couples. Partnership granted almost all the legal effects of marriage, but not the right to jointly adopt children.
Full equality came on 1 January 2009, when a common, gender-neutral marriage act entered into force. Same-sex couples thereby gained the right to marry on equal terms with everyone else, to adopt and to access assisted reproduction. Registered partnerships could no longer be entered into, and existing partnerships could be converted into marriage. This change is closely tied to the broader gender equality in Norway, which also covers women's rights and freedom of religion.
Gender identity and the right to change legal gender
The rights of transgender people have also been strengthened. Until 2016 a person had to undergo extensive medical treatment – in practice sterilisation – in order to change their legal gender. That changed with the Act on Changing Legal Gender, which entered into force on 1 July 2016. The law is based on self-determination: people over 16 can apply themselves to change their legal gender, while children between 6 and 16 can apply together with their parents. Treatment for gender incongruence is part of the public health system in Norway.
How accepted are queer people in Norway today?
Acceptance of queer people is high in Norway compared with most countries, and equal worth regardless of orientation and gender identity is considered a fundamental Norwegian value. Pride events are held across the country every summer, and both public agencies and private companies take visible part. Opinion surveys show that a large majority of the population supports equal rights, even though queer people can still face harassment and hate crime.
That the road is not yet fully travelled became brutally clear on 25 June 2022, when a terror attack on the London Pub and Oslo Pride cost two people their lives and injured several. The attack struck a venue important to the queer community, and the Pride parade itself was cancelled. The perpetrator was later sentenced to 30 years of preventive detention. The event became a moment of national grief and a reminder that tolerance must be actively defended.
Queer people, church and society
The Church of Norway has also changed its view. At the Church Assembly on 30 January 2017 the church adopted its own wedding liturgy for same-sex couples, and from 1 February that year couples could marry in church. In 2017 alone, 91 same-sex couples were married in church. Individual priests may, however, decline to marry same-sex couples.
The most recent major step came on 1 January 2024, when a ban on conversion therapy entered into force. The law makes it a criminal offence to use systematic methods to try to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity, with a penalty of up to three years in prison – six years in serious cases.
For newcomers it is worth knowing that these values are a central part of the society you are joining. Knowledge of equal worth and the rights of queer people is part of both social studies and the basis for Norwegian citizenship. You do not have to share every attitude personally, but the law applies equally to everyone. The timeline of LGBTQ+ history also fits well into the important dates in Norwegian history.
LGBTQ+ rights in Norway have thus moved from prohibition to full legal equality in just over fifty years – one of the fastest shifts in attitudes in modern Norwegian history.
