Karl Evang

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Karl Evang (1902–1981) was a doctor who, based on a socialist worldview, advocated for healthcare reform. As a prominent Director of Health from 1938 to 1972, he managed to implement much of his program.

Evang was also concerned with reforms and education related to sexuality. When he ran a medical advice column in the weekly magazine Arbeidermagasinet in the late 1930s, he received many questions about homosexuality. In a radio program in 1965, he described this:

"Letters arrived describing how this terrible realization [...] that one is different from others, how this fact began to dawn on these young people. At first, they refused to believe it themselves. And then, through the letters, we could follow them, especially those living in small places—their isolation, their attempts to overcome it, their first experiences of love, their defeats, and their victories. [...]"

This was part of the background for his collaboration with psychiatrist Torgeir Kasa, resulting in an article on the topic in Populært tidsskrift for seksuell oplysning (Popular Journal for Sexual Education). The article advocated for the decriminalization of sex between men and for broader societal acceptance of same-sex relationships. At the same time, Evang and Kasa used a medical understanding of homosexuality as a framework.

However, unlike most other doctors of the time, the authors argued that homosexuality in many cases was a "normal variation" and that lasting same-sex relationships could be "dignified and valuable."

As Director of Health, Evang continued to promote this view.

Evang was a member of the organization Mot Dag and the Norwegian Communist Party (NKP). Later, he joined the Labour Party. He opposed Norwegian NATO membership, and after stepping down as Director of Health, he joined the Socialist Left Party (SV).

Read more about Evang's views on homosexuality in this article from Historisk tidsskrift (Historical Journal).

Update, April 2024: The National Library has now digitized parts of Arbeider-Magasinet.

In issue no. 34 from 1930, the following was published: "I am a 21-year-old man and, unfortunately, suffer from homosexuality. What should one do in such cases? How does it arise? Miserable."

Evang responded that it would require several pages to address the question, making it impossible to do so in the medical advice column. Instead, he encouraged the man to send him his address so that he could respond in another manner.