A speech given by King Harald of Norway has gone viral, after he declared his support for the LGBT community and diversity in his country, making him the first Monarch to publicly do so.
The address was given on 1st September, and since then has been viewed over 3.3 million times and shared 32,000 times.
King Harald has won praise for his speech supporting diversity and the LGBT community (NorShipping)
The Norwegian Monarch, 79, has not always been popular with his people, with many wanting his son Crown Prince Haakon to take the throne instead, but he is now winning praise from gay rights activists, his own people as well as people from across the globe.
Harald told guests of a reception at the Royal Palace in Oslo that Norwegian citizens came from all over the world, and had numerous different sexual orientations, and asked them to embrace the diversity.
“Norwegians come from the north of the country, from the middle, from the south and all the other regions,” King Harald explained. “Norwegians are also immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Poland, Sweden, Somalia and Syria.”
“Norwegians believe in God, Allah, everything and nothing,” he said. “My biggest hope for Norway is that we will manage to take care of each other.
“Norwegians are girls who love girls. Boys who love boys. And boys and girls who love each other. In other words: you are Norway. We are Norway,” were Harald’s words.
He asked the 1,500 guests to embrace “trust, solidarity and generosity” in their lives, as right-wing anti-immigration sentiment grew in the country, as they try to accommodate and integrate 300,000 refugees.
“My biggest hope for Norway is that we will manage to take care of each other. That we can build this country further on trust, solidarity, and generosity. That we can know that we — despite our differences — are one people. That Norway is one.”
Three years ago, eight years of Labour Party rule was ended when a centre-right coalition took power.
According to Advocate, Norway enacted gay marriage in 2009, and civil unions for same-sex couples came about in 1999. Norway’s parliament recently introduced a law that allows transgender people to have full control over how their gender is listed on formal documents, and is generally ahead of the curve, like much of Scandinavia, when it comes to LGBT rights.
Prince William recently became the first Royal to appear on Attitude magazine’s cover, in an article where he spoke about equality and bullying.
