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Amid red stage curtains at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion caused by the church.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, stated during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was planned to take place after his statement.

This formal apology was delivered at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and injured nine people severely during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to no less than 30 years in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, refusing to allow them to become pastors or to marry in church. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as a “social danger of global proportions”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and by 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to marry in church starting in 2017. In 2023, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as an unprecedented step for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with varied responses. The director of a group for Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, called it “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a difficult period within the church's past”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the epidemic as punishment from God”.

Worldwide, a few churches have attempted to offer apologies for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, even as it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year apologised for its “failures in pastoral support and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but stayed firm in the view that matrimony must only constitute a partnership of one man and one woman.

Earlier this year, Canada's United Church offered an apology 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 honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We have hurt individuals in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”