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Amid crimson theater drapes at a leading Oslo LGBTQ+ venue, the Church of Norway offered an apology for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has brought LGBTQ+ people shame, great harm and pain,” the lead bishop, Bishop Tveit, announced during a Thursday event. “This should never have happened and that is why today I say sorry.”

“Unequal treatment, harassment and discrimination” resulted in certain individuals abandoning their faith, Tveit acknowledged. A church service at Oslo Cathedral was arranged to come after the apology.

This formal apology took place at the London Pub, one among two bars attacked during the 2022 shooting that resulted in two deaths and caused serious injuries to nine during Oslo’s Pride celebrations. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who expressed support for ISIS, was given a prison term to no less than 30 years behind bars for the murders.

Like many religions around the world, the Church of Norway – a Lutheran evangelical community that is the biggest religious group in Norway – had long marginalised the LGBTQ+ community, denying them the opportunity from serving as pastors or to have church weddings. Back in the 1950s, bishops of the church referred to homosexual individuals as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships during 1993 and by 2009 the first in Scandinavia to allow same-sex marriage, the church slowly followed.

In 2007, the Church of Norway commenced the ordination of gay pastors, and gay and lesbian couples have been able to have church weddings from 2017 onward. During 2023, Tveit joined in Oslo’s Pride parade in what was called a historic moment for the religious institution.

Thursday’s apology elicited differing opinions. The leader of an organization of Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie, who is also a gay pastor, described it as “a crucial act of amends” and a moment that “signaled the conclusion of a difficult period within the church's past”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the director of the Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Norway, the apology was “powerful and significant” but arrived “too late for those who passed away from AIDS … with deep sorrow in their hearts since the church viewed the disease as divine punishment”.

Internationally, a handful of religious institutions have attempted to offer apologies for their past behavior regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Church of England said sorry for what it described as “shameful” actions, even as it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages in church.

In a similar vein, the Methodist Church located in Ireland last year expressed regret for “inadequate pastoral assistance and care” toward LGBTQ+ individuals and family members, but stayed firm in its conviction that marriage could only be a partnership of one man and one woman.

In the early part of this year, Canada's United Church delivered a statement of regret to two spirit and LGBTQIA+ communities, describing it as a confirmation of its “pledge to complete acceptance and open hospitality” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate all of your beautiful creation,” Rev Michael Blair, the general secretary of the church, remarked. “We caused pain to people in place of fostering completeness. We express our regret.”