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Set against crimson theater drapes at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway offered an 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 on Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused a loss of faith for some, the bishop admitted. A religious service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to take place after his statement.

This formal apology was delivered at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two targeted in the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and left nine seriously injured during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to at least 30 years in prison for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity to become pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. In the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, emerging as the world's second to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples back in 1993 and by 2009 the initial Nordic nation to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of homosexual ministers, and same-sex couples could get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited differing opinions. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “an important reparation” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era within the church's past”.

For Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology represented “meaningful and vital” but had come “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish as the church regarded the disease as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have tried to make amends for their actions towards LGBTQ+ people. Last year, the Anglican Church apologised for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, even as it persists in refusing to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland the previous year apologised for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their relatives, but held fast in the view that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, Canada's United Church delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a renewed commitment of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, remarked. “We have hurt individuals instead of seeking wholeness. We are sorry.”