In a wide-ranging interview with Document.news, Truls Olufsen-Mehus, the deputy leader of the party Konservativt (Conservative – formerly the Christian Democratic Party) positions Norway at the forefront of what he describes as a sweeping ideological shift connected to the Pride movement.
According to Olufsen-Mehus, activism linked to Pride and the LGBTQ organization Foreningen FRI has moved far beyond a campaign for equal rights and now influences public institutions, particularly schools and kindergartens. He claims that educational frameworks increasingly portray children as sexual beings from a very early age and introduce concepts such as gender fluidity, intersectionality and experimentation with gender roles as part of classroom teaching.
Olufsen-Mehus further argues that Norway now ranks among the countries most actively implementing these ideas in education and gender policy. In his view, this development has been enabled by Norway’s exceptionally high levels of public trust in politicians, authorities and the media—trust he believes has allowed controversial ideas to be introduced under what he calls a “facade of normality.”
He also points to legal and policy changes surrounding gender identity, which he says were influenced by activists such as Espen Esther Pirelli Benestad. According to Olufsen-Mehus, these frameworks have helped embed gender self-identification into Norwegian law and public policy.
Finally, he raises concern about the growing number of young people seeking medical transition—including puberty blockers, hormonal treatments and surgeries removing healthy sex organs—warning that such practices challenge long-standing medical ethics and the principle that doctors should “first, do no harm.”
In the interview, Olufsen-Mehus asks whether Norwegian society has fully understood the consequences of these developments—and whether the country has become a testing ground for ideas whose long-term impact on children remains uncertain.
