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Set against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, stated on Thursday. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit recognized. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to come after the apology.

This formal apology occurred at the London Pub, one among two bars targeted in the 2022 attack that took two lives and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to at least 30 years in prison for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the most extensive faith community in the country – had long marginalised LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to allow same-sex registered partnerships during 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the church slowly followed.

In 2007, Norway's church started appointing gay pastors, and same-sex couples could have church weddings from 2017 onward. During 2023, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

Thursday’s apology was met with varied responses. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology was “strong and important” but had come “too late for those among us who died of Aids … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Internationally, a few churches have sought to make amends for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, England's church said sorry for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, although it still declines to permit gay marriages in religious settings.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland in the past year issued an apology for its “failures in pastoral support and care” to LGBTQ+ people and their families, but stayed firm in its belief that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.

Earlier this year, Canada's United Church delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing it as a renewed commitment of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We did not manage to rejoice and take pleasure in the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, stated. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”