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Amid red stage curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ people pain, shame and significant harm,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, Bishop Tveit, declared during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and this 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 Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to follow his apology.

The statement of regret was delivered at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars targeted in the 2022 violent incident that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to at least 30 years behind bars for the killings.

Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to marry in church. During the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, ranking as the second globally to allow same-sex registered partnerships during 1993 and during 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

During 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to have church weddings since 2017. Last year, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was noted as a first for the church.

The apology on Thursday elicited varied responses. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and a point in time that “represented the closure of a difficult period in the history of the church”.

For Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “strong and important” but arrived “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the disease as punishment from God”.

Globally, a few churches have sought to reconcile for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, England's church expressed regret for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, though it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings in religious settings.

Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but remained staunch in its belief that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

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

“We did not manage to celebrate and delight in all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We have hurt individuals in place of fostering completeness. We apologize.”