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Amid crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“The church in Norway has brought LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, stated during a Thursday event. “This ought not to have occurred and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” resulted in some to lose their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A religious service at Oslo's main cathedral was planned to come after the apology.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 attack that killed two people and left nine seriously injured at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian citizen originally from Iran, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to a minimum of three decades behind bars for the killings.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – a Lutheran evangelical community that is Norway’s largest faith community – historically excluded LGBTQ+ people, preventing them from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, church leaders characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

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 legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

During 2007, Norway's church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. Last year, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, described it as “an important reparation” and an occasion 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 represented “meaningful and vital” but was delivered “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, several faith-based organizations have sought to make amends for historical treatment concerning the LGBTQ+ community. During 2023, the Church of England said sorry for what it characterized as “disgraceful” conduct, though it continues to refuse to authorize same-sex weddings within the church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year expressed regret for its “failures in pastoral support and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but held fast in its conviction that marriage could only be a union between a man and a woman.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada issued an apology to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, describing it as a renewed commitment of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to celebrate and delight in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We are sorry.”