The Norwegian government has proposed to expand the hate crime legislation to explicitly name attacks against transgender people.

In Norway hate crimes have so far been understood as offenses that “are based in negative attitudes toward the religion or opinions of others, skin color, national or ethnic origin, homosexual orientation or disability”.

The Norwegian LGBTQA magazine and web site Blikk explains:



The Ministry [of Justice and Public Security] proposes to add “gender identity or expression” as a basis for discrimination in the Penal Code section 77 on aggravating circumstances, section 174 on torture, section 185 on hateful expressions, section 186 on discrimination, section 264 on serious threats, section 272 on serious body offense serious bodily injury and section 352 on serious injury. The white paper proposal follows up Parliament’s request decision no. 698, May 7, 2018. The Ministry further proposes that the wording “homosexual orientation” be changed to “sexual orientation” in the above provisions. The amendment makes it clear that also bisexuals have a special legal defense against discrimination.



The original proposal came from the opposition Labour Party. The Conservative/Center government has now followed up. With this broad political support the proposal will be accepted by Parliament.

Google translation of Blikk article. (Original text)

Photo from Gramho on Instagram. March 8 Parade 2020, Norway. “Kvinne” means “woman” in Norwegian.