(25 Jun 2022)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Oslo - 25 June 2022
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Benjamin Lau- Henriksen, 15 (left) and Li-Sullivan Köker Bolstad, 16 (right):
Reporter (English): "So can you tell me, last night where you were when this occurred? Or what were you doing last night?"
Li-Sullivan Köker Bolstad, 16, (English): "Okay. So we had actually been to a queer youth party that was in the same street as where the shooting happened. And we left less than two hours before the shooting started. I was asleep by the time the shooting started, so I had no idea what happened. I woke up the next morning and he sent a message to me about it and I was... I wasn't surprised. We're never really surprised because we live with the stress of being queer every day. We're out on the bus. We fear that someone is going to, worst case scenario, kill us, rape us, just do anything on that scale and it's not, there's not enough being done about this issue."
Reporter (English): "So last night, you were telling me that two hours before this happened you walked by that party right? And had you been older..."
Benjamin Lau- Henriksen, 15, (English): "Yes, I think for both of us, if we were over 18, so if we were old enough to go to that bar, we would probably have been there and we would have been there when the shooting happened. And honestly, if it weren't for the fact that the Pride parade was supposed to be today, we would have probably not have left as soon as we did. We would have stayed longer. So I think, I honestly think it's mostly luck that we weren't actually in the area when it happened."
Li-Sullivan Köker Bolstad, 16, (English): "Yeah, we honestly, like, we could have died and it takes a while for that to sink in. You don't really want to believe it, but as queer people, again, we're not surprised."
Benjamin Lau-Henriksen, 15, (English): "I think it's kind of a shock that it actually happened. But at the same time, like, homophobia is existing is not news, like, the most used slur or like something like, yes slur, swearword in Norwegian schoolyards is the word gay. Like, I have been shouted (at) and almost chased out of bathrooms for existing with makeup. We have to fight to get health care and that is only available to those who are able to pay. Being queer means being in a constant state of stress. Like, I have these headphones that I really like, they are like good (for) music and are noise cancelling and stuff, I don't dare to wear them on both ears while I'm outside if I have anything (inaudible) on me because it's not safe. I don't feel safe doing that. So not really that I want to be surprised and I'm kind of surprised but not really."
Li-Sullivan Köker Bolstad, 16, (English):"So non-binary people as ourselves are actually more at risk because our health care system is very much failing us. There are three something people in one hospital in the capital of Norway that are supposed to decide exactly which trans person can get the help we deserve and who can't and no non-binary people are even considered."
Benjamin Lau- Henriksen, 15, (English): "I mean, non-binary aren't medically or legally recognized at all."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
A gunman opened fire in Oslo’s nightlife district early Saturday, killing two people and leaving more than 20 wounded in what the Norwegian security service called an "Islamist terror act" during the capital’s annual LGBTQ Pride festival.
Had they been of drinking age, they would have been at the bar, they said.
"If we were over 18, so if we were old enough to go to that bar, we would probably have been there," Henriksen said.
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