Wenche Bryn Lowzow

Translator's Note: This is a machine-assisted translation completed on April 7, 2025. While care has been taken to maintain accuracy, this translation has not yet undergone human review or validation. Please note that specialized terms, historical references, and nuanced content may benefit from expert review.

Wenche Lowzow made history when she came out in 1979, becoming Norway's first openly gay Member of Parliament. She was born in Oslo on May 27, 1926, and passed away in Geilo on September 24, 2016, at the age of 90.

Upbringing

Wenche's upbringing is described as follows in the book Evig din by Marte Mona:

She grew up in Oslo's affluent west end in a family where feelings were not openly discussed, and in an era when a young girl received no knowledge about being homosexual. No one spoke about such things. As an adult, she had wondered if she might be a lesbian; she even asked doctors about it but was dismissed. (..) As a result, she suppressed her feelings and did not give them a name. (Mona 1999:76)

Wenche Lowzow completed her education at the Norwegian Women’s Social School, the Teacher Training College in Hamar, and the University of Oslo. She worked as a teacher at Lakkegata School from 1958 to 1969 and as principal at Trosterud School from 1969 to 1977.

Politically Engaged

She was an active Conservative Party politician from 1968, initially as a member of the Oslo City Council (1968–75) and the Executive Committee (1972–75), eventually also serving as a member of the Conservative Party's Central Board and Executive Committee (1974–78). From 1975–77, she was the chair of the Greater Oslo Conservative Women's Association, and throughout the period 1965–77, she served as a deputy representative to the Storting. In 1977, she was elected as a permanent representative to the Storting, serving two terms until 1985. She was a member of the Justice Committee during her first term and the Church and Education Committee during her second.

Wenche Lowzow was also involved in organizational work outside of party politics. From 1953–56, she was the leader of the Oslo district of the Norwegian Girl Scout Association, and from 1966–1977, she was a board member of the National Association for Single People.

Kim Friele

In 1977, at the age of 51, Lowzow met Karen-Christine (Kim) Friele, who would become her partner and lifelong companion. Kim, in her capacity as Secretary General of Det Norske Forbundet av 1948 (DNF-48), was reluctantly sent to discuss LGBTQ+ issues with Lowzow, whom she considered an arch-conservative politician from the Conservative Party. The meeting took place at Trosterud School, where Wenche was the principal. Kim was initially deeply provoked by Wenche's suggestion that the National Association for Single People had achieved more politically than DNF-48. Despite their political differences, Kim left the meeting both storming and unhappily in love. A relationship between these two women seemed almost impossible. However, the next day, Wenche called and expressed her desire to continue their political discussions. Their feelings turned out to be mutual, and the political debates evolved into warm emotions and eventually a relationship. Rumors began to swirl about the conservative politician and the prominent leader of the LGBTQ+ association.

Coming Out

Two years later, in 1979, Lowzow came out as openly lesbian. This occurred at an election meeting organized by DNF-48. The event received massive media attention, as described in the magazine Løvetann:

September 5, 1979. Under the headline "Conservative Party Representative Comes Out as Homosexual," Aftenposten published the following statement: "- My entire party knows where I stand, but no one talks about it. These were the words of Member of Parliament Wenche Lowzow (H), and the statement was made at an election meeting yesterday, organized by the LGBTQ+ association, Det Norske Forbundet av 1948. Lowzow did not hide the fact that she appeared as a member of the association. She received a standing ovation for her speech at the meeting held at Restaurant Metropol, the gathering place for LGBTQ+ individuals in Oslo." On September 8, the story made front-page news in Oslo's evening newspapers. With headlines typically reserved for papal deaths or government crises, Dagbladet broke the news: "I am homosexual and happy," alongside a two-column photo of Wenche Lowzow and her partner. (Løvetann no.5/1980:10)

The significance of Lowzow's confession at Metropol on that autumn evening in 1979 is almost impossible to imagine nearly 50 years later. Public figures who were open about their same-sex love were virtually unheard of outside the ranks of LGBTQ+ organizations. That a Member of Parliament—and, moreover, a Conservative Party woman who just a few years earlier had been perceived as particularly conservative—came forward as the partner of the country's most well-known LGBTQ+ activist was nothing short of sensational. The reception was, to say the least, mixed. In some Conservative circles, the entire affair was seen as a scandal. Over time, Wenche would also personally experience the cost of being open and fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in 1980s Norway.

By coming forward in the media and sharing her personal life, Wenche Lowzow, in the years following her appearance at Metropol, contributed to the visibility and normalization of same-sex love and sexuality. For example, a Se og Hør feature in 1981 reported that she and her partner, Kim Friele, "live an entirely normal domestic life."

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Together with Kim Friele, Wenche Lowzow has also been portrayed in several books, such as Bjørn Gunnar Olsen's Two Women (1983), Marte Mona's Eternally Yours: Norwegian Love Stories (1999), and Christine Kristoffersen's Love at First Sight (2000).

Even before coming out as a lesbian, Wenche was involved in advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, particularly in efforts to include sexual orientation under the anti-discrimination provisions of the Penal Code.

"Is it intended that homosexuals should be made invisible? Is it intended that discrimination against this group should be accepted?"

she asked from the podium of the Storting.

The Visa Case

In 1982, both Wenche Lowzow and Kim Friele were invited to a conference in Washington, D.C., organized by IGA (International Gay Association). At the time, homosexuals were classified as "sexual deviants" by U.S. authorities, making it necessary for the couple to obtain a waiver from visa regulations that denied homosexuals entry visas.

In Lowzow's diplomatic passport, the annotation 212(d)(3)(A):(4) can be seen written under the U.S. visa stamps from both 1982 and 1984. This refers to section 212(a)(4) of the American Immigration and Nationality Act, which was interpreted by the U.S. Embassy in Oslo as follows:

"This means that when an alien admits he is a homosexual, he is, within the meaning of the Immigration law, considered to be a sexual deviant and will be refused a visa" (letter to Kim Friele from Ambassador Richard Creehan, 1976).

Lowzow and Friele did not let this institutionalized stigmatization and exclusion go unchallenged, but made their views on the matter clear. Both submitted statements to a hearing in the U.S. Congress in 1982, with Lowzow concluding her statement with:

"I find section 212(a)(4) irreconcilable with the principle of free travel, freedom, and human rights."

Friele and Lowzow's protest led to numerous media reports in both Norway and the United States. The law was eventually changed in 1988. Documents, correspondence, and press clippings about the case can be found in the file Visa Denial USA in the Skeivt Arkiv catalog.

The Cost of Openness

In the Storting, Wenche Lowzow was engaged in many areas, not least in social policy. She also made a clear mark in LGBTQ+ politics. The latter was met with strong resistance from parts of the Conservative Party. She was re-elected to the Storting in 1981, but four years later, Oslo Conservatives did not renominate her. She felt pushed out of the Storting and saw her openness and her advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights as significant reasons for this. She later left the party. In the article "Was this really necessary?", she described her experience of being a woman and homosexual in politics:

"Being a woman was difficult enough. If you are also unmarried, that is the bottom. Even a female politician is forced to straighten her back, hold her head high, grit her teeth, and build a wall around herself, become invulnerable, create an image that people can accept. Later, when I stepped out of my anonymity and openly presented myself as homosexual, I woke up to reality—and now I found myself on the very lowest rung." (W. Lowzow in Johan Hansson [ed.] 1982: 176, translated from Swedish)

Both as an openly LGBTQ+ individual in Norwegian public life in general and as a Member of Parliament in particular, Wenche Lowzow was exceptional—a trailblazer. For example, it would take over 20 years before another prominent Conservative politician—Per-Kristian Foss—came out, after years of being one of the most prominent "open secrets" in Norwegian society. By then, the battles fought for years by people like Kim and Wenche against the tide had begun to yield results. The reception was also far more positive for Foss than it had been for Lowzow.

Partnership and Rural Life

When Norway introduced partnership laws in 1993, Lowzow and Friele were among the first couples to enter into a registered partnership, following a request from the National Association for Lesbian and Gay Liberation, LLH (now FRI). They were clear at the time that the partnership law was not a cause they had personally campaigned for, and that their decision was based purely on practical reasons—to secure rights on par with other couples. Their partnership ceremony at Oslo City Hall on August 6, 1993, nevertheless became a major public event, with friends, family, and a gathered press in attendance.

In 1991, the couple moved from Oslo to Haugastøl, to a cabin Wenche had inherited from her parents. When age and health began to impose limitations, they relocated to an apartment in Geilo.

The final years of Wenche Lowzow's life were marked by illness. Her obituary featured a quote from Karin Boye:

"I believe that what one receives in love is precisely what one gives—not necessarily from and to the other person, but from and to love itself."