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Amid red stage curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Church of Norway expressed regret for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has inflicted LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” bishop Olav Fykse Tveit, the church leader, declared during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why I apologise today.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” had caused a loss of faith for some, Tveit recognized. A worship service at Oslo Cathedral was planned to come after the apology.

The statement of regret took place at the London Pub establishment, one of two bars involved in the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and left nine seriously injured throughout the Oslo Pride festivities. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who swore loyalty to Islamic State, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years behind bars for the murders.

In common with various worldwide religions, Norway's church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the biggest religious group in Norway – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from joining the clergy or to have church weddings. During the 1950s, church leaders described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

However, as Norway's society grew more liberal, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships during 1993 and by 2009 the first Scandinavian country to legalize same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining LGBTQ+ clergy, and gay and lesbian couples were permitted to marry in church starting in 2017. During 2023, Tveit participated in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was noted as an unprecedented step for the church.

Thursday’s apology was met with a mixed reaction. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Pedersen-Eriksen, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a dark chapter in the history of the church”.

According to Stephen Adom, the director of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “powerful and significant” but had come “not in time for those who lost their lives to AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts because the church considered the disease as divine punishment”.

Worldwide, several faith-based organizations have sought to make amends for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2023, the Anglican Church said sorry for what it characterized as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it still declines to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

Likewise, Ireland's Methodist Church in the past year issued an apology for “shortcomings in pastoral care and support” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and family members, but held fast in its conviction that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.

Several months ago, Canada's United Church issued an apology to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a reaffirmation of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” in all aspects of church life.

“We have failed to celebrate and delight in all of your beautiful creation,” Reverend Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, remarked. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We apologize.”