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Set against deep red curtains at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment it had inflicted.

“Norway's church has caused LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the presiding bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, announced this Thursday. “This should never have happened and this is why I apologise today.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” had caused some to lose their faith, the bishop admitted. A worship service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to come after the apology.

This formal apology occurred at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars targeted in the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and injured nine people severely at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was sentenced to at least 30 years in prison for carrying out the attacks.

In common with various worldwide religions, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – an evangelical Lutheran church that is the biggest religious group in Norway – historically excluded LGBTQ+ individuals, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or from marrying in religious ceremonies. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church characterized LGBTQ+ persons as “a worldwide social threat”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to allow same-sex registered partnerships back in 1993 and during 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, Norway's church started appointing gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to have church weddings starting in 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret was met with varied responses. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, 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 within the church's past”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the head of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but arrived “not in time for those who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the epidemic as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have sought to make amends for their actions concerning the LGBTQ+ community. Last year, England's church said sorry for what it described as its “shameful” treatment, although it still declines to allow same-sex marriages within the church.

Similarly, the Methodist Church in Ireland the previous year apologised for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” to LGBTQ+ people and their relatives, but held fast in the view that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.

Several months ago, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have not succeeded to celebrate and delight in the wonderful diversity of creation,” Reverend Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We apologize.”