Kim Friele

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Kim Friele, 2009
Photo: Jarle Vinje

Karen-Christine Friele , known as Kim Friele , (born May 27, 1935 in Bergen ) is a Norwegian LGBT and human rights activist . She is one of the best known and most important LGBT activists in Norway.

Life

Friele is the daughter of the shipowner Rasmus Johan Wilhelmsen (1903–1984) and Ruth Adelheid Johannesen (1904–1990) and grew up in a villa in Fana near the city of Bergen. After graduating from school in 1954, she studied languages ​​at various universities. In 1959 she moved to Oslo , where she started working as a secretary. On August 8, 1959, she married the lawyer and childhood friend Ole Friele Jr., but the marriage was dissolved again in 1960.

In Oslo, Friele met the LGBT organization Det Norske Forbundet av 1948 (DNF-48) and began to get involved there. At that time the organization still had to act very cautiously and the members mostly used aliases in order not to be recognized. Friele became the first person in Norway to openly reveal himself as a homosexual person with his name. From 1966 to 1971 she was the chairman of the DNF-48 and then its general secretary until 1989. After finishing her job there, she moved from Oslo to the Hardangervidda Mountains . Shortly after Norway allowed same-sex partnerships in 1993, she entered into a registered partnership on August 6, 1993 with the politician Wenche Lowzow , whom she met during the 1977 parliamentary election campaign . Lowzow died in 2016, at which point the two had been in a relationship for 39 years.

Commitment to LGBT rights

Friele was involved in various areas for the equality of LGBT people with the rest of the population. She fought against Section 213, which criminalized sexual acts among men. This law was removed from the law books in 1972. She also campaigned against the listing of homosexuality in the list of mental disorders . After she was banned from entering the US because of her homosexuality , she wrote letters to 700 US politicians. She later also gave a speech in the US Congress .

Activity as an author

Friele is also active as a writer. She wrote several non-fiction books and many articles and speeches. In her first book Fra undertrykkelse til opprør (German: From oppression to rebellion ), published in 1975, she described life as a homosexual person from a positive perspective. In another book De forsvant bare… (German: They just disappeared… ) she leads through the history of homosexuals beginning in the Old Testament .

Awards

Friele received several awards for her commitment. In 1978 she was awarded the Fritt Ord freedom of expression award. In 1994 the Norwegian LGBT Movement was awarded the Honorary Prize and in 1999 the Humanist Prize of the Human-Etisk-Forbund. In 2000, Friele was awarded the Order of Saint Olav as a first class knight . In 2005 a bust of her was inaugurated on Oslo City Hall Square, which later moved to the Deichmanske bibliotek . In the audience vote of the Norwegian broadcaster Norsk rikskringkasting (NRK) for Norwegian of the century, she was voted fourth.

Friele is an honorary member of the social democratic party Arbeiderpartiet (Ap). In August 2020 it was announced that a sculpture would be erected for them in the center of Bergen.

Works

  • 1972: Homofili
  • 1975: Fra undertrykkelse til opprør. Om å være homofil - og være glad for det
  • 1980: Homofil frigjøring - ditt ansvar
  • 1985: De forsvant bare… Fragmenter av homofiles historie
  • 1995: Fangene med rosa trekant - aldri mer?

Web links

Commons : Kim Friele  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Hilde Lundgaard: Kim Friele: Når du har stått på barricades i så mange år, sårer du preg av det. In: Aftenposten. May 22, 2015, accessed on February 15, 2020 (Bokmål in Norwegian).
  2. ^ Solveig Ruud, Kristin Jonassen Nordby, Per Annar Holm: Wenche Lowzow (90) er død. In: Aftenposten. September 24, 2016, accessed February 15, 2020 (Bokmål in Norwegian).
  3. ↑ Kim Friele for egen sculpture in Bergen. In: Address notifications. August 11, 2020, accessed on August 11, 2020 (Norwegian Bokmål).
personal data
SURNAME Friele, Kim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Friele, Karen-Christine (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norwegian LGBT and human rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH May 27, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH Mountains