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Against crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway expressed regret for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“The national church has brought the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Olav Fykse Tveit, declared this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and which is the reason I apologise today.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused some to lose their faith, Tveit recognized. A religious service at Oslo Cathedral was scheduled to follow his apology.

This formal apology took place at a venue called London Pub, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 attack that killed two people and caused serious injuries to nine throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to at least 30 years behind bars for carrying out the attacks.

Like many religions around the world, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is Norway’s largest faith community – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to marry in church. During the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as a “social danger of global proportions”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships in 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to allow same-sex marriage, the religious institution eventually adapted.

In 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church commenced the ordination of LGBTQ+ clergy, and LGBTQ+ partners were permitted to have church weddings starting in 2017. Last year, Tveit participated in the Pride march in Oslo in what was described as a first for the church.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited a mixed reaction. The head of a network for Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, herself a gay pastor, called it “an important reparation” and a point in time that “finally marked the end of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the director of Norway’s Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “powerful and significant” but was delivered “too late for those among us who died of Aids … with hearts filled with anguish because the church considered the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to make amends for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it characterized as “shameful” actions, although it still declines to permit gay marriages in religious settings.

In a similar vein, Ireland's Methodist Church last year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but held fast in its belief 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 delivered a statement of regret toward Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ individuals, describing it as a confirmation of the church’s “commitment to radical hospitality and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to rejoice and take pleasure in all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”