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Amid crimson theater drapes at one of Oslo’s most prominent LGBTQ+ spaces, Norway's national church issued a formal apology for hurtful actions and exclusion it had inflicted.

“The church in Norway has caused LGBTQ+ individuals harm, suffering and humiliation,” the lead bishop, the church leader, stated this Thursday. “It was wrong for this to take place and this is why today I say sorry.”

“Harassment, discrimination and unfair treatment” had caused certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at the cathedral in Oslo was arranged to follow his apology.

The statement of regret took place at a venue called London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 attack that resulted in two deaths and injured nine people severely during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was sentenced to no less than 30 years behind bars for the killings.

Similar to numerous global faiths, the Norwegian Lutheran Church – a Protestant Lutheran denomination that is the most extensive faith community in the country – for years sidelined the LGBTQ+ community, preventing them to become pastors or to marry in church. In the 1950s, church leaders referred to homosexual individuals as a “social danger of global proportions”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, becoming the second in the world to legalize same-sex partnerships in 1993 and in 2009 the first Scandinavian country to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, the Church of Norway began ordaining gay pastors, and same-sex couples have been able to get married in religious ceremonies since 2017. Last year, Tveit participated in the Oslo Pride event in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

The Thursday statement of regret elicited a mixed reaction. The director of a group of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “an important reparation” and an occasion that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era within the church's past”.

According to Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the apology was “meaningful and vital” but had come “overdue for individuals who passed away from AIDS … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the disease as punishment from God”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to make amends for historical treatment towards LGBTQ+ people. During 2023, the Anglican Church expressed regret for what it referred to as “disgraceful” conduct, even as it persists in refusing to authorize same-sex weddings in church.

Similarly, Ireland's Methodist Church last year apologised for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” to LGBTQ+ people and their families, but held fast in its conviction that marriage could only be a bond between male and female.

In the early part of this year, the United Church based in Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, characterizing it as a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” in all aspects of church life.

“We have not succeeded to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the top administrative leader of the church, said. “We caused pain to people rather than pursuing healing. We express our regret.”