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Set against crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, the Church of Norway issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has brought LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, declared during a Thursday event. “This ought not to have occurred and which is the reason today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in some to lose their faith, Tveit recognized. A church service at Oslo's main cathedral was arranged to take place after his statement.

The apology was delivered at a venue called London Pub, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, received a sentence to at least 30 years in prison for the murders.

Like many religions around the world, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, church leaders characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a worldwide social threat”.

But as Norwegian society became increasingly liberal, becoming the second in the world to permit registered partnerships for same-sex couples in 1993 and in 2009 the first in Scandinavia to approve gay marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples could have church weddings from 2017 onward. In 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The apology on Thursday elicited a mixed reaction. The director of a group representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, a lesbian minister herself, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a difficult period in the church’s history”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “powerful and significant” but had come “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts since the church viewed the disease as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to offer apologies for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, England's church said sorry for what it described as “shameful” actions, although it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church last year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but stayed firm in its conviction that matrimony must only constitute a bond between male and female.

Several months ago, Canada's United Church offered an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, labeling it a renewed commitment of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.

“We did not manage to rejoice and take pleasure in all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, stated. “We have hurt individuals in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”