Svein Fuglestad (born 1967)

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Worked for 25 years at the Church City Mission (Kirkens Bymisjon), now Associate Professor at OsloMet.

Fuglestad grew up in Sandnes, Rogaland, in a Christian environment. Early on, he became involved in the YMCA-YWCA and the Ten Sing movement. After coming out as gay, he felt a lack of acceptance and understanding within the movement he had been part of.

He later moved to Oslo to study music, where he also completed his civilian service with the Church City Mission (Kirkens Bymisjon). There, he was given responsibility for organizing the very first solidarity concert under the auspices of Aksept, held at Rockefeller on World AIDS Day in 1992.

This concert became the forerunner to the popular, star-studded garden concerts at Aksept, which Fuglestad continued to organize. The most recent of these was held in 2017.

He has also been active in the Open Church Group (Åpen Kirkegruppe).

In an excerpt from his life story interview, Fuglestad recounts the moment he and his partner, Erik Aasheim, marked their relationship with a blessing service at Paulus Church in Oslo. The parish priest, Liv Rosmer Fisknes, opened the church for the occasion—against the wishes of Bishop Aarflot.

The full interview is available in the reading room at Skeivt arkiv. We met Svein Fuglestad in Oslo, July 2018.