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Amid crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, Norway's national church offered an apology for discrimination and harm perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals pain, shame and significant harm,” the lead bishop, the church leader, declared this Thursday. “This should never have happened and this is why I apologise today.”

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

The statement of regret was delivered at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and left nine seriously injured throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, received a sentence to a minimum of three decades in prison for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Church of Norway – a Protestant Lutheran denomination 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. Back in the 1950s, the church’s bishops described gay people as “a worldwide social threat”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, becoming the second in the world to legalize same-sex partnerships during 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

During 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and same-sex couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies starting in 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was described as a historic moment for the religious institution.

Thursday’s apology was met with a mixed reaction. The head of a network representing Norwegian Christian lesbians, Hanne Marie, herself a gay pastor, called it “a crucial act of amends” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a dark chapter in the church’s history”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “powerful and significant” but arrived “too late for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the disease to be God’s punishment”.

Internationally, a few churches have attempted to reconcile for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, the Anglican Church apologised for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, although it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church in Ireland last year issued an apology for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and their relatives, but held fast in the view that matrimony must only constitute a partnership of one man and one woman.

Earlier this year, Canada's United Church issued an apology toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in every part of the church's activities.

“We did not manage to rejoice and take pleasure in the beauty of all creation,” Reverend Blair, the general secretary of the church, said. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We express our regret.”