Arne Grønningsæter (born 1951)

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Social worker, researcher, trade union leader, author, and church politician. Grønningsæter also served as the head of the Norwegian Association of Social Workers from 1989 to 1992, when the association merged into the Norwegian Union of Social Educators and Social Workers (Fellesorganisasjonen).

In our interview with Grønningsæter, he reflects on being openly gay within the trade union movement, his research at Fafo, and his deep commitment to advocating for equal rights for queer people within the Church.

He served as a member of the Oslo Diocesan Council from 1998 to 2006, chaired the council from 2000 to 2002, and was a member of the Council on Ecumenical and International Relations from 2002 to 2006, as well as the Church of Norway National Council from 2006 to 2010.

Grønningsæter was also an early advocate in the fight against HIV/AIDS through his work as a social worker, and he was actively involved in the so-called Henki campaign.

In an excerpt from the interview, Grønningsæter discusses how parts of the press sought to provoke a public conflict between him, as an openly gay man, and his father, who was the bishop of Sør-Hålogaland.

The full interview is available in our reading room. We met Arne Grønningsæter in Oslo, August 2018.