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Amid deep red curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has brought LGBTQ+ people shame, great harm and pain,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, declared this Thursday. “This should never have happened and that is why I offer my apology now.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to follow his apology.

The statement of regret took place at the London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and injured nine people severely during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. An individual of Iranian descent living in Norway, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to no less than 30 years behind bars for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. During the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, emerging as the world's second to legalize same-sex partnerships in 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to approve gay marriage, the church slowly followed.

During 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church began ordaining homosexual ministers, and LGBTQ+ partners have been able to have church weddings starting in 2017. In 2023, the bishop took part in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as a first for the church.

Thursday’s apology was met with varied responses. The leader of an organization representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and a moment that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but had come “too late for those among us who died of Aids … carrying heavy hearts since the church viewed the epidemic as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, several faith-based organizations have attempted to offer apologies for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it characterized as its “shameful” treatment, even as it continues to refuse to permit gay marriages in church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland last year expressed regret for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and their families, but stayed firm in its belief that marriage should only represent a union between a man and a woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church of Canada issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a reaffirmation 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 the beauty of all creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”