Norwegian Humanist Association launches «Hate is strong, but love is stronger» campaign

It comes in response to an incident that happened in August in Oslo where 22-year-old Edvin Eriksen was assaulted on a bus because of his sexual orientation.

– I’m not really surprised, because most of my gay friends have experienced similar things, says the victim Edvin Eriksen to Norwegian Humanist Association.

– This is a heartbreaking example of hate crime that still occurs in our capital city. And it is unfortunately not unique. The Norwegian police note an increase in reported hate crimes and that one in five cases involve the victim’s sexual orientation. These kind of attacks and attitudes violate the core tenets of the humanistic values we live by, says Marit Øimoen, Head of Communications of the Norwegian Humanist Association to MySoCalledGayLife.co.uk.

In the aftermath of the attack in August, Edvin took a photo of himself, bloody and bruised. The photo became iconic and has been recreated as a striking illustration for the campaign launched by The Norwegian Humanist Association, which started rolling out on August 14th in Oslo, where the attack took place.

At the same time, The Norwegian Humanist Association is launching another campaign that addresses the rights of both LGBTQ people and women, internationally.

– Internationally, we’re concerned about a growing development where the political far-right is joining forces with conservative religious institutions to gain electoral power and restrict anything that goes against their perceived ‘traditional values.’ Not far from Norway, in Poland and Russia, we see clear examples of this in restricting the freedoms and rights of women, LGBTQ people, and religious minorities, says Marit Øimoen.

– To promote the campaign, we have collaborated with two well-known Norwegian personalities who both have a personal commitment to these issues. The first one is Adam Schjølberg, who has previously shared his personal story and experience of being gay. In the campaign film, made in a recognisable social media aesthetic, he talks about the restricting of rights, internationally, for LGBTQ people.

– To convey the message about the serious restrictions on women’s reproductive rights, we are pleased to have influencer and public debater Kristin Gjelsvik with us. We see that in many countries there are now sharp restrictions in abortions that force women to have illegal abortions. We do not accept that, says Øimoen.

Both campaigns will be active this fall in Norway.

– For more than 60 years, the Norwegian Humanist Association has fought for the freedom to individually choose how we live our lives. That’s something we’re going to keep doing, concludes Marit Øimoen.