Kim Friele (1935-2021)

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November 23 2021

Kim Friele passed away on Monday, 22 November 2021, at age 86. She devoted large parts of her life to fighting for gay rights in Norway.

“Kim Friele has been the most prominent, greatest champion of equal rights for homosexuals in the past 60 years. That made her an unparalleled pioneer in the world of freedom of expression. She demonstrated precisely how vital free speech is to those who belong to exposed, vulnerable minorities in particular”, remarks Knut Olav Åmås, executive director of Fritt Ord.
Friele was awarded the Fritt Ord Foundation Prize in 1978. She returned it in protest when Nina Karin Monsen received the same award in 2009.

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