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Amid red stage curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment caused by the church.

“The church in Norway has brought LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, announced during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and that is why today I say sorry.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” led to a loss of faith for some, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was scheduled to take place after his statement.

This formal apology was delivered at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars involved in the 2022 shooting that killed two people and injured nine people severely during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to a minimum of three decades in incarceration for carrying out the attacks.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, preventing them to become pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners could have church weddings starting in 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret received differing opinions. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “strong and important” but had come “too late for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have attempted to offer apologies for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it described as “shameful” actions, though it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages in church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year apologised for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but held fast in the view that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.

Earlier this year, the United Church based in Canada offered an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in every part of the church's activities.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, stated. “We have wounded people in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”