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Amid deep red curtains at a well-known Oslo location for LGBTQ+ gatherings, the Norwegian Lutheran Church issued a formal apology for harm and unequal treatment perpetrated over the years.

“Norway's church has inflicted the LGBTQ+ community shame, great harm and pain,” the presiding bishop, the church leader, declared during a Thursday event. “It was wrong for this to take place and that is why today I say sorry.”

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

The apology was delivered at the London Pub, a bar that was one of two involved in the 2022 violent incident that took two lives and caused serious injuries to nine at Oslo's Pride event. A Norwegian of Iranian origin, who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State, was given a prison term to at least 30 years in incarceration 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 – for years sidelined LGBTQ+ people, refusing to allow them from serving as pastors or from marrying in religious ceremonies. In the 1950s, bishops of the church described gay people as “a global-scale societal hazard”.

Yet, with Norwegian society turning more progressive, ranking as the second globally to legalize same-sex partnerships back in 1993 and in 2009 the initial Nordic nation to allow same-sex marriage, the church gradually changed.

Back in 2007, the Norwegian Lutheran Church started appointing gay pastors, and same-sex couples were permitted to have church weddings since 2017. During 2023, the bishop took part in the Oslo Pride event in what was described as an unprecedented step for the church.

Thursday’s apology elicited varied responses. The leader of an organization for Christian lesbians in Norway, Hanne Marie Pedersen-Eriksen, a lesbian minister herself, referred to it as “a significant step toward healing” and a point in time that “signaled the conclusion of a painful era in the history of the church”.

As stated by Stephen Adom, the leader of the Norwegian Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity, the statement was “strong and important” but was delivered “too late for those among us who died of Aids … carrying heavy hearts as the church regarded the crisis to be God’s punishment”.

Worldwide, several faith-based organizations have tried to reconcile for historical treatment regarding LGBTQ+ individuals. During 2023, the Church of England said sorry for what it described as “disgraceful” conduct, although it continues to refuse to allow same-sex marriages in religious settings.

Likewise, the Methodist Church located in Ireland in the past year expressed regret for its “failures in pastoral support and care” regarding the LGBTQ+ community and their families, but held fast in its conviction that marriage should only represent a partnership of one man and one woman.

Earlier this year, the United Church of Canada delivered a statement of regret to Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ groups, describing it as a renewed commitment of the church's “dedication to welcoming all and full inclusion” throughout every area of church life.

“We have failed to honor and appreciate the wonderful diversity of creation,” Michael Blair, the church's general secretary, said. “We have hurt individuals rather than pursuing healing. We are sorry.”