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Set against deep red curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.

“The church in Norway has inflicted LGBTQ+ people pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, announced this Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” led to a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to take place after his statement.

This formal apology occurred at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars involved in the 2022 shooting that took two lives and injured nine people severely throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was sentenced to no less than 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to marry in church. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, Norway's church started appointing gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples could have church weddings starting in 2017. In 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as a historic moment for the religious institution.

Thursday’s apology was met with differing opinions. The head of a network for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, referred to it as “an important reparation” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “powerful and significant” but had come “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Globally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to reconcile for their past behavior concerning the LGBTQ+ community. In 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it referred to as “shameful” actions, although it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.

Similarly, 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 relatives, but stayed firm in its conviction that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

Earlier this year, the United Church of Canada issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We did not manage to honor and appreciate the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We have wounded people in place of fostering completeness. We express our regret.”