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Set against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway expressed regret for discrimination and harm it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ individuals shame, great harm and pain,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, the church leader, stated this Thursday. “This should never have happened and this is why I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A worship service at Oslo's main cathedral was scheduled to come after the apology.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to no less than 30 years in prison for the killings.

Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the most extensive faith community in the country – historically excluded the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, becoming the second in the world to legalize same-sex partnerships in 1993 and during 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway started appointing LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples could get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday elicited varied responses. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “an important reparation” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a dark chapter within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, 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 crisis as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, a few churches have sought to make amends for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. In 2023, England's church said sorry for what it referred to as its “shameful” treatment, though it persists in refusing to permit gay marriages in religious settings.

Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland last year expressed regret for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but stayed firm in its conviction that marriage should only represent a bond between male and female.

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

“We did not manage to celebrate and delight in the beauty of all creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, stated. “We have wounded people instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”